Internal Affairs
by CalypsoSunn
Summary: Fighting neighbors is what the agents at Border were trained to do. Sure, sometimes it was difficult, but they could always uncover enough information about their attackers to finish them off. However, when a new force attempts to destroy Border, how will the agency combat this new threat, especially when the threat isn't from neighbors, but is from their own planet instead?
1. Time's Up

Kikuchihara stood idly next to Kazama and Utagawa, who seemed to be having a lively and interesting discussion with Arashiyama, Satori, and Tachikawa. He said seemed, because in all honesty, it could have been the most mundane conversation for all Kikuchihara knew. He didn't know when exactly, but at some point, he had begun to zone out and lost track of what the others were saying. Not that he cared - he wasn't a people person, so conversing with others wasn't really his thing.

Shiro glanced around, observing the scene taking place around him. Border had decided to hold a party, of some sorts, for the agents in order to acknowledge all the hard work everyone had been putting in as of late. Because of the second large invasion, then B rank wars, another small invasion, and finally, the mission to rescue the C rank agents taken to Aftokrator, it seemed like no one had had the chance to rest even the slightest. So, this was Border's way of thanking everyone.

Tables were set up around the edges of the room, holding food and beverages for everyone. Music more or less blared over the speakers while colored lights lit up the room. Some agents stood around in groups, conversing and laughing with each other while others tried (and in large part failed) to dance.

Kikuchihara inwardly sighed, quickly beginning to regret his decision to attend. The event had been set up rather well, he wouldn't deny that - he just hated this kind of atmosphere. Yes, so he wasn't much of a people person, but he could still talk to others when it was required. But this kind of conversing, when everyone was so laid back and having fun...for some reason, that _really_ wasn't his forte.

He glanced at the clock. It was only ten - still early in terms of when the party was supposed to end. However, Shiro had been there for over an hour, so he figured he had been there long enough to make an appearance. Trying not to disrupt their conversation too much, the brunette lightly tapped Kazama's shoulder, causing his leader to look back at him.

"I'm heading home now," he more or less shouted, hoping Kazama could even hear him over the music.

Luckily, Soya had, and he nodded to his teammate without any question, something Kikuchihara was thankful for. Kazama didn't know much about Shiro, but he knew enough to recognize his typical behavior and therefore wouldn't question his social actions. It was refreshing - after all, sometimes he just needed space from others, a concept people tended to not understand. They would automatically think something was wrong, or he was upset - at least Kazama understood and would never bombard him with his concerns.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants, he weaved through agents and made his way outside, pausing to take a breath of the cool, fresh air that greeted him. He sighed, not having realized until now how stifling that room had been. He stood there for several moments, closing his eyes simply taking in the night while waiting for his ears to stop ringing. Slowly, he was able to pick up on the natural sounds around him, like the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew by, and the chirping of the insects. It was so relaxing, compared to the atmosphere he had just come from.

However, his peace was suddenly interrupted by another sound, one that didn't belong to the sounds of the night. He opened his eyes, frowning as he tried to recognize the sound. It was some sort of ticking...like a clock? Shiro's first thought was it was someone's watch, but he shook that off quickly, knowing this sound was not one a wristwatch normally made.

His piqued curiosity slowly began to diminish as he followed the sound around the edge of Border's headquarters. He was at Border almost every day - if this was normal, he would have heard it before.

It was several more minutes until he ended up right outside the wall of the banquet hall where the party was being hosted. It was also where the sound of the ticking had resonated the loudest.

 _It's here…_ Shiro thought, an unsettling feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. _But where?_

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus and hone in on the sound. It was coming from his left, closer to the ground. It was slightly muffled as well, meaning it was covered by something else.

Opening his eyes, he looked in the direction of where the sound was and noticed the shrubbery near the wall. Without hesitation, he moved toward it and carefully pushed the leaves aside, searching the ground for the source.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he yanked his hand outside from the shrubs. In no time, Shiro's phone was in hand, and he quickly brought up Kazama's number and dialed it.

 _Pick up, pick up,_ he thought anxiously, afraid the noise from the music would be too loud for anyone to hear the ring of a cell phone.

However, much to his relief, he was greeted by the sound of his leader's voice.

"Kazama-san, you need to get everyone out and far away from the building _right now,"_ hoping his voice sounded forceful as he began moving toward the entrance of the building.

He definitely caught Kazama by surprise, because his response was, "Kikuchihara, what's going on?"

The brunette grit his teeth, knowing Kazama was wasting time the longer he questioned the call. "Just get everyone out! I'm almost to the entrance, but Kazama-san, there's-"

His phone was knocked out of his grasp as his hair was suddenly yanked back. Shiro let out a gasp, and before he could even register what was going on, a hand was brought over his mouth, muffling any noises that he could have once made. He was suddenly being dragged back and away from the walls of Border, farther from the bomb planted right outside of the base.

He struggled against the grip of his captor, but the person only yanked back on his hair harder, making it too painful for Shiro to try and move. He allowed himself to be dragged, but he wasn't giving up - he was running through plans in his head, his thoughts moving a mile a minute.

They suddenly stopped, and Kikuchihara remained still, waiting patiently for his chance, not allowing fear to consume him.

"Trying to ruin my plan, are you?" a voice said from directly next to his ear, causing the teen to shiver.

"It was a nice attempt," he continued, "but unfortunately for you, you were a tad bit too late. There's no chance all of them will get out of there alive."

Kikuchihara's heart stopped momentarily as the words registered in his mind. Too late?

The male's grip slacked ever so slightly, and the teen took the opportunity. He kicked back at his captor as hard as he could, feeling his foot make contact with the man's knee. The man swore and loosened his grip even more, and it was just enough for Kikuchihara to twist out of his grasp while swinging his leg in a roundabout kick.

However, the man moved back just in time and was able to dodge the attack, much to the brunette's surprise. The man, who Shiro could now tell was probably no more than twenty five, was now several feet away from Shiro, looking at the teen with the most twisted smirk he had ever seen.

"Damn, you still have a lot of fire in you considering the fact most of your fellow agents are going to be dead in several minutes," he said, his voice amused.

Kikuchihara grit his teeth, knowing this guy had to be lying -he was simply trying to infuriate him and stall for time. This guy knew he had been caught, and he was most likely trying to think of a way to get out of his current situation.

Shiro, however, wasn't going to let that happen. Kazama was smart - Kikuchihara was confident he would get everyone out of the building safely. He tried not to worry about that as he focused on the figure in front of him. His task was to capture this man so Border could figure out just who the hell he was and why he tried to attack the agency.

His first thought was to pull out his trigger - even if his weapon wouldn't work against someone who wasn't in a trion body, he could at least protect himself. Sure, he trained his physical body in order to make himself even stronger in trion, but even so, he had never fought someone directly with his physical body. He wasn't sure if he should take the risk.

However, as soon as he reached into his pockets, Shiro knew something was wrong. His trigger wasn't in either pocket. He knew he had brought it with him, so…

"I figured you might want to play with this," the guy said, dangling Kikuchihara's trigger by his fingertips, "so I took it away. Sorry about that."

Shiro grit his teeth as he watched the man throw his trigger far behind him. _Looks like that settles it,_ he thought with annoyance, pushing down the bit of fear that tried making a presence in his head, _guess I don't have another choice._

Not bothering with idle chit chat, Shiro quickly moved forward before the other could react and threw forward a punch. The man dodged it, but Kikuchihara had anticipated it and kicked out at the guy's side, landing a soft blow despite his attempt to dodge. Recovering quickly, the man unleashed a kick of his own, catching the teen in the ribs and causing him to stumble back.

Not giving him time to recover, the man moved on Kikuchihara, sending forward several punches that he barely managed to dodge in time. This guy was fast, and Shiro found that despite all his training, this person was clearly more experienced. If Kazama were here, he would definitely be telling Shiro to back off, that it was the smart thing to do.

 _Sorry Kazama-san, but I don't exactly have a choice here,_ the teen thought angrily as he attempted to land another blow on his attacker, but failed. He grit his teeth in frustration, trying to figure out the best way to subdue this guy.

However, he was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a crippling pain in his side as the man managed to land a kick directly at Kikuchihara's ribs, the sound of their cracking ringing loudly in his ears. He stumbled backward but managed to catch himself before falling over. The man was in front of him, prepared to deliver another blow, but Shiro managed to throw his arm out first.

The hit never landed, though. Instead, the guy grabbed Kikuchihara's fist, suddenly twisting his entire arm until it was behind his back, and Shiro was pressed painfully in front of the man. He let out a gasp of pain as the man twisted his arm even farther up, preventing the teen from moving.

"You know, you should really stick to fighting with a trigger," the man said in a low tone from right next to the brunette's ear.

Before Shiro could react, his mouth was covered once again by the man's hand. Suddenly, his arm was twisted quickly, and the sound of his bone shattering rang in his ears. Pain flooded his body, and he let out a scream, muffled by the hand. He heard the guy laugh, but he didn't release his grip on the teen.

Despite the agony flooding his mind, Kikuchihara was still able to hear the sound of metal coming from the man's pocket. He tried squirming from his grip, but it only elevated the pain in his body.

"It's quite a shame though," the man continued, raising the metal object up. Shiro felt a sharp pain as something protruded his back, and he let out a gasp, unable to let out a noise any more audible. The knife was plunged in slightly deeper, and despite the pain it brought, Kikuchihara was unable to react, almost as if he were frozen to the spot.

"I didn't want to kill you, but we can't have people knowing the mastermind behind the destruction of Border. At least, not yet."

Despite his enhanced hearing, the words barely registered in Kikuchihara's mind. The knife was quickly pulled out, and the man's grip on the teen was released. Shiro stood there for several seconds, simply staring straight ahead until, suddenly, he collapsed onto the ground, landing on his side. Although pain was flooding his entire body, it was quickly becoming numb. He could feel the sensation of something sticky pouring down his back, but his mind was moving too slow to realize what was going on.

The man said something else, but Kikuchihara couldn't hear what he said. He watched with unseeing eyes as the man retreated farther and farther away until, within moments, he had finally succumbed to the darkness.

 **Author's note:**

 **Hey guys, thanks for reading! This is just an idea I had, so I'm not sure if I'll continue it. Let me know what you guys think though and if it should be continued. Thanks :)**


	2. Hearing the Good News Before the Bad

**Note : Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it :)**

 **Here's the next chapter, and just a quick note : I use and will continue to use a mixture of the character's last and first names, just to switch things up. Just wanted to make that clear, because I know it might be confusing to some people!**

"Kikuchihara?" Kazama repeated, waiting another two seconds before placing his phone back in his pocket as quickly as he could. He was already running back into the room, making his way toward Tachikawa, Arashiyama, and Miwa, who he had been talking with prior to the phone call.

He passed several groups of agents on his way over, and knowing it probably wasn't the most efficient thing to do, he stopped anyways and told them to get out of the building and meet at the evacuation point. Each person he told looked toward him in confusion, but after seeing how serious he was, they were quick to obey.

Tachikawa, Miwa, and Arashiyama seemed to notice his actions, because as soon as Kazama managed to make it to them, their faces were one of concern.

"What's going-" Jun started but was quickly cut off.

"We need to get everyone out of the building and to the evacuation point," Kazama said, his tone forceful. "Start clearing everyone out _now._ "

The nice thing about speaking to the other A rank members was that when something urgent was happening, they took orders without wasting time to question what was happening. The others simply nodded before the four dispersed in opposite directions to get the message out to everyone.

Kazama's first priority was finding Kido. Luckily, all the higher-ups were in the same corner of the room, wine glasses in hand as they chatted amiably. He wove his way through the crowd as quickly as he could, although it felt like it was taking ages. Despite remaining calm on the exterior, he was quickly becoming anxious. He himself had no idea what was happening, but he knew from the tone in Kikuchihara's voice that it was urgent. His mind was preoccupied with getting everyone out, but he couldn't help himself from also thinking of his fellow teammate - something clearly happened on his end, as if someone was trying to stop the teen from relaying his message.

 _Damn, Kikuchihara,_ Kazama thought to himself, almost in front of Kido, _what the hell did you get yourself into?_

Finally in front of the commander, Soya wasted no time with formalities. "Commander, I need you to make an announcement for all agents to evacuate the building and reconvene at the evacuation point."

Kido looked at him, raising a brow. "And why is that?" he questioned, the tone of his voice unreadable to Kazama. "What is the situation?"

"Sir, all I know is agent Kikuchihara called me, saying in an urgent tone we needed to evacuate the building and get everyone far from it. He was cut off before he could tell me why, but I know my teammate, and I know this is serious, and we can't waste any more time. I've already ordered a few others to start getting the agents out, but it will be helpful if you make an announcement so we make sure everyone hears."

Kido and the others looked at him for several moments, as if the information had left them frozen and unsure what to do. However, they recovered in moments, and Kido turned to Sawamura, telling her to shut the music off. She quickly followed instructions, hurrying over to the speaker system.

Kido then turned to the others. "Go to the exits and make sure everyone is getting out of here," he ordered.

They nodded, scattering almost instantly. The commander then moved over to the podium as the music suddenly cut off, taking those agents who had not heard the memo yet by surprise. Kazama noticed that everyone seemed to pause - even Miwa, Tachikawa, and Arashiyama, who had been busy spreading the word. And it seemed they had been doing a good job - the room lacked the amount of bodies it had before. But there were still quite a lot of agents there, far too many for Soya's likes.

"I apologize for the interruption," Kido started, not at all sounding apologetic. "However, there appears to be a situation, so I have to ask that everyone evacuates the building and regroup at the meeting point _immediately._ I have the other managers at the exits making sure everyone gets out, so please follow instructions and start making your way to the exits."

Kazama was thankful that, whatever their situation was, it was happening at Border with agents experienced with emergencies. There was no chaos following Kido's announcement - rather, all the agents left in the room quickly moved into action and made their way toward the exits in a calm and orderly fashion. He still felt much more tense than he would have liked, but he felt himself able to breathe ever so slightly. He had faith this was all going to play out okay.

Wasting no time, Kazama turned to the commander who had now stepped off the podium. Most everyone had made their way to the exits, leaving the two of them just behind the crowd.

"Sir, you follow the agents out," Soya said, knowing how important it was the commander got out of here. "I'll check the surrounding area to make sure all the agents are out of the building."

Kido, however, shook his head. "We can cover more ground if the both of us search. Meet back at the front exit in no more than five minutes."

Soya opened his mouth to respond, but a glare from the commander shut him up, nodding obediently instead. Not wasting any more time, the two shot off, searching the surrounding hall, bathrooms, and other rooms near the banquet hall that agents could have been in. Luckily, all turned up empty, and Kazama rushed back to the meeting point, Kido thankfully already there.

The commander nodded to him before turning his back and walking quickly out the exit, Kazama right on his heels. "I expect an explanation from you or agent Kikuchihara about what is going on when we make it to the evacuation point," he said, his tone suggesting there was no room for argument.

They had made it out of the building at that point and were already across the street, but Kazama paused, knowing he couldn't follow the other agents just yet. Kido walked forward a few steps before realizing Soya wasn't trailing him, and he turned back, his brow raised.

"I will meet at the point after I search for Kikuchihara," he stated, a hard edge to his tone. He knew his teammate wasn't in the building, but he _had_ to be somewhere near headquarters. Kazama didn't know what had happened to him or what state he was in, and he couldn't just leave the teen without knowing whether or not he was okay.

He expected the commander to shoot the idea down, but much to Kazama's surprise, the man nodded. "I understand. But stay within a respectable distance from the building. I expect to hear from you within twenty minutes, regardless of whether or not you find Kikuchihara. Be smart, agent."

Kazama nodded, about to head off. However, before he could, a sudden explosion tore through the air, the sheer force of it knocking both Soya and Kido to the ground. Kazama landed on his back, temporarily stunned as his ears began ringing. He felt a sudden, sharp pain in his arm, and he looked down to see blood. His face felt somewhat wet, and he had the feeling blood was dripping there too.

Shaking himself out of his daze, Kazama slowly got to his feet, instantly looking toward the commander. Physically, he looked fine, save for a small cut on his neck and his cheek. However, the anger on Kido's face was the worst Kazama had ever seen. The commander stood up, looking toward headquarters. Much of it was still standing - it was a large building, after all. However, the banquet hall and the area around it was completely destroyed and engulfed in flames.

So that's what the situation Kikuchihara had warned them about was - a bomb. Kazama simply stared at the wreckage, realizing how close that bomb had been from taking out the lives of so many agents. They had gotten everyone out just in time - if Kikuchihara had called just a minute later, some of them might have been injured, or maybe wouldn't have made it.

Kazama suddenly felt a hand grasp his arm, and he looked up to see Kido telling him something. However, his ears were still ringing, so he couldn't quite make out what the man was saying. But, by the way he tugged on his arm, Kazama could only guess he was trying to get him to abandon his effort to find his teammate.

Well, he wasn't about to do that. With a quick tug, Kazama freed himself from Kido's grasp and ran off back toward the outskirts of headquarters, going toward the area around what once was the banquet hall. Debris littered the ground, forcing Soya to watch where he stepped. He searched the area closer to the building first, hoping if he found Kikuchihara, it wouldn't be here. If anyone had been this close to the building when the bomb went off, they wouldn't have made it - there was no question about it. If the initial explosion hadn't killed them, the shrapnel would've.

After ten minutes, Kazama hadn't found any sign of the teen, so he moved outward and away from the building. He couldn't have been that far, but the radius in which Kikuchihara was likely to be was still a rather large place to search. Plus, there was still the chance he wasn't even in this area, that he had been dragged off somewhere else, a situation Kazama didn't want to think about.

Regardless, it could take some time for Kazama to find the teen, and because he didn't know what state he was in, Kazama was afraid he was simply wasting time. There had to be an easier way…

An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he quickly pulled out his earpiece used for team communication, dialing through Mikami.

"Kazama-san, are you alright?" a voice sounded, and he almost sighed in relief, glad she had her earpiece as well.

"Mikami, I'm fine, but I had a question," he started, not pausing to allow her to talk. "Is it possible for you to track Kikuchihara's earpiece, or would that require the technology at the base?"

"No, I can do it now," she said almost instantly. "I can do it from my mobile. It will just take me a few moments…"

The line went silent, and Kazama waited as patiently as he could for Mikami. It was only about a minute later when his phone beeped, and Mikami's voice rang through at the same time.

"I sent the location to you on your mobile," she said as Kazama unlocked his phone to see the information. "He's about four hundred meters northeast of your current location."

"Thank you Mikami," Kazama breathed, running off in that direction while keeping his phone out for reference.

"Kazama, is he okay?" he heard Mikami ask a few moments later, but just as he was about to respond, he saw something off in the distance, something that looked like a body. His breath caught in his throat, and he sprinted forward, reaching the figure in seconds.

It was the blood he noticed first. Despite Kikuchihara wearing black, it stained and soaked through his clothing, forming a pool on the ground as well.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Kazama cursed, rushing to his side, trying to keep his panic down. "Mikami, you need to call an ambulance to my location, _now,_ " he ordered the operator, ignoring how frantic his voice sounded. Mikami said something else, but Kazama didn't hear it - he was too focused on the agent in front of him.

He hurriedly searched for the source of Kikuchihara's blood loss, finding it quickly on his upper back. Kazama couldn't see the depth or the extent of the wound, but considering how much he was bleeding and how much he had bled already, he could tell it was very serious. He cursed again, removing his jacket and pressing it down onto the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Hey, Kikuchihara," he said loudly, trying to wake his teammate up despite knowing it was most likely hopeless. "Come on, wake up."

He didn't move, and even though he wasn't surprised, Kazama's worry increased. He removed the pressure on the wound, taking a second to look at his jacket. He immediately noticed it was soaked with blood already, and he quickly reapplied the pressure, swearing to himself yet again.

He was bleeding way too much. And that wasn't the only concern - a quick look at Kikuchihara's arm indicated there was something wrong with that too. Not that that was life threatening, but it was still another injury to add to the list.

Kazama took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. _He still has a pulse, he's still breathing,_ he told himself, trying to think of the positive in this horribly wrong situation. _The ambulance is on the way, someone will be here to help him soon._

"Kazama, please answer me!" he heard suddenly, realizing it was Mikami speaking through his earpiece.

Right. He had told her to call the ambulance, then he completely ignored her.

"I'm sorry, Mikami," he replied, realizing how evident the stress was in his tone. "Kikuchihara's in a pretty dire situation right now - he has a pretty large gash on his back, and I'm applying pressure right now to slow the bleeding. But I don't know how long he can hold out - we really need an ambulance."

There was a moment's pause on the other end before Kaho spoke up again. "It should arrive within a minute or two," she replied, her voice calm. However, Kazama knew her typical calm voice, and this wasn't it. He could tell she was forcing it - not that it surprised him.

"Tell the commander I will be going to the hospital and that I will catch him up on the situation at another point," he told his operator, hanging up before hearing her response so he could focus on the task at hand.

He heard the sirens in the distance, only causing him to press down harder on Kikuchihara's wound. Kazama felt a stinging pain in his own arm, but he paid it no mind - he had simply gotten injured from the blast, but his injury was by no means life threatening. He would survive whether or not his wound got treated - Kikuchihara, on the other hand…

"Come on, stay with me," he muttered, hearing the ambulance get closer and closer until, what felt like an eternity later, it pulled up right near Kazama and his fallen teammate. Several men got out of the truck, two carrying a gurney over.

"Agent, we're going to need you to let go of the wound," one of the men said to Kazama who, despite the medics being here, was afraid to release the pressure, afraid the moment he let go, he would lose the agent.

It took several moments, but he finally removed his jacket, and the medics quickly and carefully got Kikuchihara onto the gurney, checking him over as they rushed him into the back of the ambulance. Kazama stared after him, momentarily fazed by the whole situation until he was removed from his trance by someone tapping his shoulder.

"Agent, you can't ride in the ambulance, but I can take you in a car to the hospital, if you would like," one of the medics offered, and Kazama nodded, not bothering to speak.

"Follow me, then," the medic said, about to turn away when his eye caught Soya's arm. He took a step forward, grabbing the agent's arm lightly as he examined the wound.

"Sir, we might have to get this stitched up at the hospital," the medic said with a frown. "I can't see how deep the wound is right now, but once we arrive at the hospital, I will have to take a look at this. I'll check on your other cuts as well," he continued, eyeing Kazama's face, "just to make sure nothing got into them."

Soya stared at the medic, trying to hide the disbelief he felt. Seriously? His teammate was dying, and this guy was concerned about some minor cuts on his arm and face? No offense to the medic, but he didn't feel as though he should be in focus at the moment.

However, he didn't respond, and instead he followed the medic to the car, knowing the more time he spent arguing was more time it would take to arrive at the hospital. The man was quick - as soon as the two were strapped in, they sped off in the direction of the hospital. Kazama turned his gaze on the sideview mirror, his thoughts completely occupied, not noticing the scene of the wreckage fading away quickly from sight as they got closer and closer to the hospital.

He wanted to believe the medics had arrived in time to save his teammate. However, he had already pushed his luck earlier when evacuating everyone from headquarters. He had just managed to get everyone out in time, and that was thanks to Kikuchihara's warning and the help of other agents.

But this situation was different - he couldn't avoid a situation that had already occurred. And, truthfully, Kazama wasn't sure how much longer he could keep pressing his luck.


	3. Out Of Your Control

**Note - once again, thanks for the reviews! As for the requests, I'll try to make them happen, although it probably won't happen until toward the end of the fic. Not sure how many chapters this will be, but don't worry, I have a plan for how this is going to go :))**

"Jin-san, are you okay?"

Jin gave Kuga a smile. "As fine as I could be in this situation," he replied in an amiable voice, trying to keep other emotions out of his voice.

However, he tended to forget, quite often, that it was futile trying to lie to Kuga thanks to his side effect. The teen simply frowned at Jin, not bothering to say a word. At this point, he didn't have to - Jin knew that whenever Kuga gave him that look, it because he had been caught in a lie.

Yuichi let out a small laugh, running his fingers through his hair. "Honestly, I'm just a bit confused," he admitted, pausing to look around him.

All the agents were still at the evacuation point, waiting until Kido gave the final orders. Everyone had heard the explosion, but it wasn't until Kido arrived to their location when it was confirmed the explosion had happened at headquarters. Until the police arrived and assessed the situation, Kido didn't want anyone to leave. Everyone was standing around, some seated, and very little conversation floated around. Most seemed to be confused, for more reasons than one, and no one really seemed to know what to say or how to react.

Jin realized Kuga was waiting for him to finish, so he shook himself out of his thoughts and continued on. "My side effect didn't predict anything like this happening," he said, trying to keep his tone light. "I'm confused as to why, because this was a really serious event. I should have seen something like this coming."

Kuga's frown softened, turning more thoughtful. "Your side effect can't predict everything, Jin-sama," he replied, his voice taking on an affectionate tone. "So, you can't blame yourself for something like this happening."

Jin looked to the teen in surprise, although it quickly faded away. Kuga was very attentive - it shouldn't have surprised him that he picked up on that fact so easily.

He ran his fingers through his hair again, a small smile on his face. "I know, but it's hard not to. If I had seen that, maybe we would have been able to stop it."

Kuga shook his head. "Maybe," he responded lightly, "but the fact is, you didn't see it. And that's okay, because it's not your job to make sure you see everything that could happen in the future. No one is expecting that from you. Anyways, I'm pretty sure no one here would even _think_ to blame you, so you can't really blame yourself either."

Jin was silent for a moment, taking in Kuga's words. Yes, what he said was true, and Jin knew it wasn't fair to blame himself. But, even if he let the blame go, it still didn't fix the confusion he felt for not seeing such an event.

"Your side effect can't predict everything," Kuga repeated, pulling him from his thoughts. "Yes, it may have predicted large events in the past, but it doesn't mean it will every time. Just as it won't predict every small event to happen either."

Jin let out a sigh, knowing there was no point in arguing. Everything Kuga said was entirely true, but even so, hearing the truth didn't ease his frustration.

The two became quiet, and Jin took the time to look around again. Now that he really paid attention, he could tell everyone was gathered with their teams - some squads, like Arashiyama's and Miwa's, were grouped together - but regardless, no one seemed to be separated from each other. Except…

Jin frowned, looking at Utagawa and Mikami who were standing silently with Tachikawa's team. Their silence wasn't out of the norm - after all, most of the others were silent. No, it was the fact that the other two members of their team weren't with them.

Yuichi took a quick glance around, scanning the faces surrounding him. Kuga seemed to notice, because he looked to his elder with a frown.

"You haven't seen Kazama or Kikuchihara here, have you?" Jin asked the teen slowly, his eyes still scanning their surroundings.

Kuga immediately looked around, also just catching onto the fact that the two were missing. "Now that you mention it, I haven't," he responded.

That was odd - they had no reason not to be there. Jin's frown deepened, and without another word to Kuga, he set off, heading toward the commander.

Kido saw him approach and took several steps forward to meet him. He didn't say anything though, instead choosing to wait to hear Jin's words.

"Commander, where is Kazama and Kikuchihara?" he asked, knowing the commander had to have some idea as to where they were located.

Kido hesitated for the briefest instant - if Yuichi hadn't been paying attention, he most likely wouldn't have caught it. Kido recovered quickly enough to pretend as though it didn't happen, and he soon began talking.

"Kazama is accompanying agent Kikuchihara to the hospital," he replied, his tone indifferent.

Jin looked to the commander, knowing his expression was full of disbelief. Hospital? But why? Jin was positive he saw Kazama exit the building with Kido, and they were the last two out of the building. So, Kikuchihara couldn't have gotten injured from the bomb. But if that wasn't the case, then-

"Agent Kikuchihara was attacked, most likely by the one who set the bomb," Kido said, reading Jin's expression. "He called Kazama to order the evacuation but was quickly cut off. Kazama found him after the explosion went off, and it was clear he was injured prior to that."

Jin winced. He didn't know Kikuchihara very well - he wasn't sure _anyone_ knew him very well - but regardless, the news still shocked and worried him.

"Is he-"

"I don't know the details," Kido said, rather shortly, and Jin wondered if there was something he was keeping from him. He was silently wishing he brought Kuga along for the conversation.

"I will say this," the commander continued, his voice less harsh. "Until agent Kikuchihara wakes up, that is, _if_ he wakes up, we have no idea who initiated this attack against Border. Right now, we're completely in the dark."


	4. Oh-So-Temporary Relief

Kazama sat in the waiting room of the hospital, trying his best to remain still. After arriving to the hospital, he was more or less forced to have a check up so the medic could confirm his cuts were clean. It turned out he did need stitches for his arm, but other than that, a few bandages were enough to fix the rest. And because Kikuchihara was brought immediately into surgery, he was directed to the waiting room.

Actually, he was told he should probably go home and rest as it may be a while, but he was quick to ignore that.

It had been an hour since arriving, but it already felt like ages. The longer he sat there, the more worried he became. Did surgery normally take this long? He thought they would have gotten everything fixed and under control at this point. But if it was taking this long, did that mean it wasn't going well?

Kazama let out a sigh, trying to take his thoughts away from the procedure taking place right now. Instead, he tried to think back to the attack. Who would attempt an attack like that? It clearly wasn't a neighbor - they didn't use weapons like bombs. That, and they tended to attack directly, making their presence known. No, it was definitely a human. But the question persisted - why?

Kazama couldn't think of any practical reason why someone would want to attack the agency. Since its start, Border had done nothing but try to protect the people of Mikado City. Sure, they weren't perfect, but they had saved more lives than were lost. Border's sole purpose was to protect innocent people from neighbor attacks, so why would someone want to attack an organization like that?

"Excuse me, agent Kazama?" a female voice asked, removing Soya from his thoughts. He looked up to see a nurse standing in front of him, clipboard in hand. His stomach clenched nervously, and he stood up quickly, knowing why she was here.

"The surgery has been completed on agent Kikuchihara," she said, a small, comforting smile forming on her face. "It was a rather difficult surgery, and I will admit to you that he almost didn't make it. Your teammate is lucky."

Kazama suddenly felt ten times lighter and he let out a breath, not realizing he had been holding it in all this time. Kikuchihara was going to be okay, he made it.

"In addition to the wound on his back, we also had to set his right arm, which was fractured in two places, as well as three ribs," she continued, and Kazama paused. He knew his arm had looked funny, but his ribs too?

"He has a minor concussion as well, but that's the extent of his injuries," she finished.

Kazama paused for several moments, letting the information settle in his head. The nurse made it sound like it wasn't that bad, but when Kazama really thought about it, all of those injuries had to have hurt when they occurred. That, and those things would take a while to heal. Sure, training at Border wouldn't be an issue because he just used his trion body anyways. But doing other tasks would be really difficult for Kikuchihara.

But even putting those things aside, Kazama also had to wonder how the brunette would fare mentally once he woke up. Despite how strong Kikuchihara was, what happened to him could be traumatizing, and Kazama was afraid the teen might not be so okay.

"When can I see him?" he asked, not bothering to ask for more information on his injuries.

"Well, he's going to be unconscious for quite some time," she replied. "At the very least, he'll be out for the next two days. You can see him, but I would advise you to go home and get some rest for now, and we can call you when he wakes up."

Two days, at least? He supposed that wasn't too long considering how much blood he lost, but still. That meant at least two days where Kazama would be in the dark about what happened to his teammate. And then there was the fact that the nurse didn't even know if it would be two days. What if it was more? Kazama wanted to be here when Kikuchihara woke up, but he also didn't want to be wasting time when he could be helping with the search for the attacker.

The nurse seemed to notice Soya thinking because she spoke up again. "I assure you, there is no chance he will wake up if you head home for a day," she said softly, sympathy ringing through her voice. "We can normally tell by someone's vitals if they are going to wake up soon. If you would like, I can call you as soon as there is an indication that he may wake up soon."

Soya paused, thinking it over once again. He knew this made the most sense, but he still felt bad leaving Kikuchihara here despite him being unconscious. He was also afraid to risk the chance of Kikuchihara waking up before the nurse had time to contact him.

Finally, Soya nodded to the nurse, knowing it was best for him to help out in the field until his teammate woke up. As hard as the decision was, it was his best option.

She smiled at him. "Thank you, agent Kazama. We have your contact information, so I will be in touch. In the meantime, please get some rest. I will be seeing you in the next few days."

With that, she turned around, leaving Kazama alone in the waiting room. He stood there for several more moments before he finally let out a sigh, pulling out his phone to alert Utagawa and Mikami about the situation. He sent them a quick text and placed his phone back in his pocket, not bothering to wait for their response.

Despite the amount of adrenaline that had been running through body, Kazama suddenly felt drained. His mind was telling him he needed to do something, but at this point, there was nothing he could do. Kido had informed him that the police didn't uncover any helpful information, and the agents had been sent home for the night to rest before they reconvened tomorrow. Kido had instructed him to go home and rest as well, saying it would be necessary for him to be fully rested for tomorrow.

Part of him wanted to follow orders while part of him still felt like there was so much unfinished business. However, after debating it in his head for several more moments, Kazama finally decided to follow the advice before he passed out in the waiting room. Kido was right - without rest, he would be useless.

With a small sigh, he zipped his jacket up and headed toward the exit, letting his exhaustion clear his mind from all his thoughts.

 _We will start to get this sorted out tomorrow,_ he thought to himself, walking quickly. _Whoever did this can't hide from us forever._


	5. Welcome Back

**Note : I hope I'm not saying this too much, but thank you for the reviews! In regard to the guest who requested some action with Kazama, well...I don't want to spoil anything for later chapters, so I'll just leave it at that :)**

Kikuchihara slowly became aware of a dull, aching pain that seemed to be affecting every part of his body. He tried to ignore it, just wanting to fall back into a state of blissful unawareness. However, the pain began to slowly increase to the point where it was too uncomfortable to ignore. His brain was still trying to catch up, so he was momentarily confused as to what had caused this pain. However, images suddenly flooded his mind, and he quickly remembered what had happened.

Despite being in a complete state of unconsciousness only minutes before, Shiro felt wide awake as he sat up quickly, about to check his surroundings until a sharp pain in his head and back caused him to stop. He grit his teeth, fighting back a gasp as he tried to move his right palm to his forehead - however, his arm wouldn't move, and he moved his eyes to the arm, eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of the cast and sling.

An all-too-vivid image of him being restrained by his attacker formed in his mind, and when the image approached the part when he twisted Kikuchihara's arm, the teen flinched, the sound of the bone shattering seeming all too real despite the event having taken place quite some time ago. He tried to stop the images before the next event happened, but he found he was unable to do so. Before he knew it, the cool metal of the knife was entering his back, blood beginning to pour out immediately.

Shiro suddenly felt a hand grip his left arm, and instantly, he found himself back in the hospital room. He blinked his eyes, taking several quiet breaths, not having realized he stopped breathing. His body was all too stiff; however, as soon as his gaze met Kazama's, he tried his best to relax, not wanting to appear too agitated. He was about to remove the grip his left hand had taken on the covers, but he noticed his hand had a slight tremor to it. Not wanting to make that obvious, he kept his hand gripping the blanket, although less harshly than before.

"Kikuchihara, are you alright?" his team leader asked, both his voice and expression showing that of concern.

Shiro nodded, knowing that if he spoke, his voice would give away the truth. Honestly, since waking up only minutes ago, the pain in his arm and ribs had steadily increased and was quickly approaching the point of being unbearable. However, the wound on his back was worse - not only was it stinging and throbbing like hell, but the entire area around it felt like it was on fire.

"Did you get everyone out?" Kikuchihara asked, his voice scratchy from un-use, causing him to wonder just how long he had been unconscious.

Kazama nodded, and Shiro let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. So he had gotten in touch with Kazama in time, contrary to what that man told him. Everyone made it out alive, meaning the attacker failed.

 _Good,_ Shiro though, slightly calmer now that he knew the status of the other agents.

"Kikuchihara, we're going to need your help though," Kazama added, and both his face and voice told Shiro he was holding back something not-so-good.

The brunette frowned, ignoring the nerves that suddenly bubbled in his stomach. "What is it?"

Kazama hesitated only briefly before answering the question. "The person who set up the bomb got away, and the police found no evidence leading to who could have done it. For the past three days, we've been in the dark, unable to do anything because you're the only one who had any contact with him."

Kikuchihara stared at Kazama, allowing the words to process in his mind. The first thing to sink in was that, if he understood the words correctly, he had been unconscious for _three days._ And for those three days, no one had been able to do anything because they had no idea who or what they were looking for. And because of that, he could have easily attacked again, all because Shiro was unconscious and had helpful information that could lead to the discovery of his identity. He tried to push down the mixture of guilt and panic he suddenly felt, knowing it wouldn't do him any good to think about it that way.

"So what have you guys been doing in the meantime?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding so weak.

"They've already begun to clean up the debris around headquarters and fix it as soon as possible," Kazama started, and, after seeing the confusion in Shiro's eyes, continued to give more information. "Only a small portion of the building was destroyed - mainly the banquet hall and the area around it. The simulation rooms, team rooms, and our equipment and ships were all untouched."

Kikuchihara frowned. That was odd, but it did provide them with at least some information about their attacker - if this man had any plan, it was geared toward killing the agents rather than destroying their means of fighting. So, at least they could almost be positive it was a human.

"Most of the A and B rank agents have been at the base helping with the restoration," Kazama continued, getting back to the original question. "Some have been putting in a little training, but I think there's a lot on everyone's minds at the moment, so no one is entirely focused on that. But, Kido did make it clear he doesn't want anyone going anywhere alone, just for safety measures until we get more information."

Shiro gave a small nod, giving his mind little time to take in the information before he went back to Kazama's original statement.

"So when am I getting out of here?" he questioned, and by the expression on Soya's face, he had taken his leader by surprise with the remark.

"I need to help put an identity to this guy, and I can't do that by sitting in here," he said, his voice much more nonchalant than how he was feeling. Truthfully, he didn't want to see that face again, but it wasn't like he had a choice.

Kazama shook his head. "I was supposed to grab a nurse when you woke up so she could check you over, but I wanted to talk to you first," he said. "I'll do that when we're finished, but anyways, the police will be called as soon as I grab the nurse, so they'll be here to question you as well as get a sketch of this guy."

Kikuchihara frowned. "Why do the police need to question me?" he asked. "If this guy was involved in an attack on Border, why do they need the information?"

Kazama let out a sigh so soft that to any other, it wouldn't have been audible. "Unfortunately, because the one who attacked is a human, they have jurisdiction over the case as well, meaning that any information we have is information we must provide to them."

Shiro only stared at Soya, his annoyance clear on his face. Soya put his hands up in mock surrender, shaking his head.

"I feel the same way," he insisted, "but we don't really have a choice."

The brunette sighed, trying to take the brief lapse in conversation to take a moment to breathe; however, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his head, and just like that, all the pain he had been feeling earlier came back into his body.

Kazama, of course, immediately noticed, and he took a step forward. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice borderline concerned, something Kikuchihara wasn't used to hearing.

Despite how much everything was bothering him, Shiro didn't want to admit just how much his injuries hurt. He knew it was stupid, especially in this situation, but he wasn't one to tell others when something was bothering him.

However, Soya wasn't an idiot, and he caught on despite not being told the truth. "Well, in any case, the nurse needs to check on you, so I suppose now would be a good time to fetch her."

The teen nodded, and the moment Kazama left the room, he leaned back down on the bed with his palm pressed into his forehead, eyes closed. He let out a slow, quiet breath, taking these few moments to just breathe. Because once the nurse came in, the police would be next, and then Kikuchihara would be helping with the investigation, meaning he wouldn't have much time to just breathe until they caught this guy.

Another sharp pain shot through his forehead, and he winced, silently wishing he could just sleep until this whole nightmare was over.


	6. Out of the Dark

Miwa and the rest of his team stood behind Tsukimi who was seated behind her computer, pulling up the information Kido sent out to all agents. It had been a waiting game ever since the explosion, and despite only three days having passed, it felt like eternity to Miwa, and he assumed the others felt the same. He hated having to wait around while someone dangerous ran around with the ability to take them by surprise at any moment. He hated not having any control over the situation.

Luckily, it was that afternoon when the team leaders were told they would be receiving information about the attacker within the hour, although Kido strictly forbade anyone from going out on their own to search for him. It annoyed Miwa at first, but the more he thought about it, he knew it made sense. If this person had been able to plant a bomb at Border without anyone from security knowing, and if he had been able to take out a trained, A rank agent, this guy was clearly a threat. Miwa knew if a few squads went out, they could easily take out the guy due to their strength in numbers; however, considering this guy used a weapon in an attempt to take out a large number of agents, Shuji figured sending more agents right to his doorstep would be giving him exactly what he wanted. Kido said it was in the police's jurisdiction to find this man, and Border was to simply help uncover more information.

"Here it is," Tsukimi said, and the others looked to the screen to see what appeared to be some kind of report.

Miwa leaned in more closely, reading from over the operator's shoulder. There was an image of a man with short, brown hair and brown eyes to match. He had a small smile, one that made him look completely harmless. Narrowing his eyes, Miwa shifted his gaze to begin reading the page, section by section.

Name : Nakamura Akio

Vitals : Gender - Male Birthdate - October 23, 1992 Age - 25

Blood Type - A

Physical : Hair - Brown Eye Color - Brown Height - 188 cm

Weight - 86 kg

Address : 7-3-2 Kishiyoto, Mikado City, Kyoto

Personal : Graduate from Osaka University, masters degree in electrical engineering

Father and mother deceased - automobile accident

Brother and sister deceased - first large scale invasion

There was more information, but Miwa's eyes stopped at that last sentence. His siblings died from that invasion? His thoughts quickly shifted to his own sister, who perished in the same attack. Shuji clenched his jaw, thinking back to that moment, how he suppressed all of his hurt and used it to fuel his anger instead, anger toward the neighbors that ended his sister's life. This guy, if anything, should have felt the same. However, his actions said otherwise, confusing Miwa.

"Miwa, you alright?" he heard, Yoneya's voice removing him from his thoughts and bringing him back to the present.

He nodded, realizing everyone's eyes were on him. Of course, they would think the same thing as soon as they read that - Miwa's sister was no secret.

"Truthfully, I'm a bit confused," he said in a neutral tone, keeping his eyes on the screen. "We can't assume this guy's siblings are the reason for his actions, but if they are, his actions don't make sense."

The others looked to him, looking to him for an explanation.

"When my sister died," he continued, trying extra hard to keep a normal voice, "I wanted to join Border to kill the creatures that caused her death. I wanted to join the force that was working to protect others from the neighbors, right?"

He paused for a moment, giving the agents a chance to think before he continued. "So, if anything, this guy would have done the same. However, instead of joining the good guys, he's trying to fight against them. Which, to me, doesn't make any sense, Why would you attack the agency that is working to protect innocent people from those that killed them before, especially when said creatures killed your family?"

He finally turned his gaze toward his team, watching as the impact of his words finally hit them. Their confusion turned into apprehension as they too began to think about it.

Miwa noticed Yoneya's expression suddenly change from a thoughtful one to a more wary one. He frowned, finding this rather odd from the normally carefree agent.

"What is it, Yoneya?" he asked, leaning away from the computer so he was standing upright.

Yoneya was silent for several moments, as if thinking things over in his head, before he finally spoke. "Well," he started, his voice sounding almost hesitant. "The way I see it, we can look at this two ways. The first is that the reason for this guy's attack has nothing to do with the first large scale invasion, and he has something against Border that is completely independent of that event."

Miwa frowned slightly, finding that highly unlikely. Yoneya must have noticed too, because he quickly continued talking. "Yeah, I know that's unlikely, but we have to consider that option. The second though, is that the invasion has to do with his attack on Border, which then gives us two options to consider. The first is that, for some reason, he's blaming Border for the attack rather than the neighbors. Or,"

He paused again, and Shuji could tell he was very hesitant to say this next part. Yoneya looked to Miwa, and the leader could see in his eyes that something he was thinking was going to be very controversial.

However, Miwa didn't care - they were a team, and they had to discuss things, especially when something this big was happening. He didn't care if whatever was going to be said was bad - they needed to consider all options if they were going to catch this guy.

"It's okay, Yoneya," Miwa assured, "Go ahead."

Yosuke nodded, taking a second before finally finishing his thought. "The second option is that Border did something controversial - to what extent, I don't know, but if this is the case, it would have been something bad enough to cause this guy to want his revenge."

The room got silent, Yoneya's words sinking into everyone's heads. Miwa thought about that possibility - at first, he quickly dismissed it, knowing there was no way that occurred. However, the more he thought about it, he realized that, for one, Border had really just started, and two, that invasion was something really big to handle. So, if Border had to resort to other measures to stop the neighbors, it could have been possible considering the circumstances.

Miwa sighed, running a hand through his hair. This was getting complicated really quickly. As much as he hated to admit it, he was slightly glad the police were here to assist with this. Although they wouldn't be much help when it came to sorting out this guy's relationship between Border and the neighbors, but they could at least help track him down.

Shuji nodded, addressing nothing in particular. "Alright, well I'll go brief Kido on what we discussed. Meanwhile, I think you guys can go home - there's no point in you staying any longer. Just go get some rest."

He knew they would protest, so before they could say anything, Miwa turned and left the room, going to search for the commander.

~~(later)

Miwa let out a sigh as he pushed open the door to his house, immediately removing his scarf and placing it on the table before shutting and locking the door. Exhaustion had finally settled in, and all he wanted to do was just lay in bed and fall asleep. However, his stomach was telling him otherwise, and reluctantly, he knew he had to prepare something before completely crashing. He walked into the kitchen, thinking about the easiest thing to prepare until he froze - seated on the counter right across the room from Shuji was someone he had just found out existed today.

Nakamura Aiko.

His blood ran cold, and instinctively, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his trigger before realizing it wouldn't have any effect on the man. Nakamura must have noticed too because he only laughed, hopping off the counter and taking two steps forward.

"Calm down, agent Miwa," he said, his voice light, "I'm not here to fight you, or kill you for that matter. I just came here to chat."

Miwa glared at him, not trusting him one bit. He took a step back, keeping his eyes on the figure before him while looking in his peripheral vision to search for anything he could use as a weapon.

"What do we have to chat about?" Miwa snapped, not seeing anything he could grab that was within reach. "You don't even know me."

"Maybe we've never met in person," Nakamura said, looking to Miwa with interest, "but I do know that we have a few things in common, agent."

Shuji frowned, confused momentarily until he recalled the information in Nakamura's file. "We both have relatives that died in the first large scale invasion," he stated, anger coursing through his tone. "If you think you can compare yourself to me because of that, you're wrong - you and I are nothing alike."

Nakamura simply hummed, not at all affected by Shuji's anger. "Yes, that's because you've allowed Border to brainwash you into thinking you're doing the right thing," he replied innocently.

Miwa stared at Aiko. What? Was this guy completely crazy?

"What the hell are you talking about?" Miwa snapped, knowing he shouldn't have asked as it was only giving Nakamura what he wanted. However, he also knew the more he could figure out about the man, the better.

Nakamura let out a short, amused laugh. "Well, I obviously can't tell you all the details now, but-" he paused, looking Miwa directly in the eyes with a look that sent a chill running down his spine. "If you join me, I'll make sure you learn the truth about the so called protection agency you're working for."

Time seemed to slow down as the words hit Miwa. Join him…? So called? Was this guy implying Border was lying to everyone, including the agents who worked for the agency?

Miwa grit his teeth, refusing to allow his anger to cloud his judgement. No, there was no way that was possible. Obviously, this guy was either delusional or was trying to manipulate Shuji. Either way, he wasn't falling for it.

"As if I would join forces with someone like you," he spat, glaring at Nakamura.

The other tsked, shaking his head in disappointment. "Well, I can't say I'm not surprised," he mused, taking a step sideways. Shuji glanced over, seeing the kitchen window right there. Shit. Nakamura was going to try and escape. He couldn't let him go, but at the same time, was it worth the risk of trying to fight him? Kikuchihara had tried, and he ended up in the hospital, almost dead.

Nakamura paused, back at his original place by the window. "I know you don't understand my actions right now," he said, a small smile on his face, "but you should just think things over and think about how well you really know the commanders at Border and their goals. Then, if you decide you want more information, well, I'll know, and I'll find you. Until then-"

Before Shuji could react, Nakamura had jumped up onto the counter and slid easily through the window, leaving the teen frozen in the kitchen, his mind struggling to catch up with what had just happened. Several moments later, the enormity of the situation finally caught up to Miwa, and he cursed, realizing he should have tried to do something to subdue the criminal.

However, by this point, he had had enough time to get away, so there was no point in Miwa chasing him on his own. With another curse, he pulled out his phone.

On the third ring, he picked up. "Agent Miwa, what is it?" Kido asked.

"Nakamura was just in my house. But he wasn't trying to attack me - he was trying to recruit me."

 **Note - I apologize if the address format for Nakamura is completely inaccurate - I tried looking up how to write Japanese addresses, but after getting mixed up with what I was making up and what was real, I gave up after much confusion. Oops**


	7. Sitting Ducks

Jin was walking quickly through the un-destroyed part of Border, on his way back to Tamakoma Branch. He was helping to repair a few more things at headquarters, but if he had to say, the process was moving rather quickly despite the attack having happened only six days ago. He felt like he should be at least a little bit glad at the progress, but other things were weighing down on his mind that prevented him from doing so.

Specifically, Jin was still frustrated his side effect wasn't seeing any futures involving this Nakamura guy. At first, he thought it could have been because he had never heard of the man before, and he was such an unknown that it prevented him from seeing the attack. However, even after seeing his face and reading his profile information, his side effect _still_ wasn't giving him any information. It hadn't predicted the attack on Border, it hadn't predicted Kikuchihara's near death, and as of late, it hadn't predicted Nakamura's break in into Miwa's house. At this point, Jin knew the only thing that made this man so dangerous was how unpredictable his actions were. Normally with neighbors, Border had detection systems that allowed the agents to prepare themselves - that, and Jin's side effect normally worked. But with this guy, no one had any way of determining when and what he would do next.

Jin ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh, just wishing this whole situation was over already. Neighbors were one thing to deal with, but another human? No, Jin would take weird space creatures any day over a human.

Yuichi paused suddenly as he passed an open door, one leading to a simulation room. He peeked in, curious as to who was training right now. Very few teams had been taking the time to really focus on their training as of late - of course, they weren't neglecting it, but Jin hadn't seen anyone using the simulation rooms to train at any time he'd been here over the past few days.

However, as soon as he saw Kazama was in the room, he frowned. Sure, Kazama was always making sure his team put in meaningful training as he was always looking for ways to improve the team dynamic. But he was also practical, and considering not only the attack but also what happened to his team member only days ago, Jin wouldn't have expected him to be throwing his team into simulations.

"If you're going to stand there staring at me, you might as well come inside and do so," Kazama said suddenly, not taking his eyes off of whoever was training in the other room.

 _Oops,_ Jin thought sheepishly before entering the room, making his way so that he was standing side-by-side with Kazama. He looked into the simulation room only to look back to Kazama incredulously.

"Why is he training right now?" he asked, disbelief in his tone. Kikuchihara was only released from the hospital that morning, on the condition that he rested and did not do any physical activity. While this technically wasn't breaking those rules considering he was in his trion body, Jin still felt like this wasn't right.

"He wanted to," Kazama replied calmly, not bothering to look over at Jin. "I didn't like the idea of it either, but I also understand that for at least a few weeks, his physical body is going to be very limited as to what it can do. I can tell he's already frustrated with it, so if doing this will help calm him down, then I'll allow him to so long as he isn't pushing himself."

Jin didn't respond immediately, although he silently accepted Kazama's reasoning. Jin still didn't approve entirely, but he also accepted that Kazama knew his teammate better than he did, so if the leader thought it was for the best, then it probably was.

"I heard Kikuchihara was released from the hospital this morning," Jin started, keeping his eyes trained on the agent as he fought off the simulations. "But I didn't realize he came here. When did he stop in?"

"I brought him home first, and we came here about two hours ago," Soya responded, his brow narrowing ever so slightly. He didn't take his eyes off of Shiro, so Jin assumed the teen did something that his leader disapproved of.

"He didn't want anyone to see him, though," Kazama continued, and Jin glanced briefly at him before returning his eyes to the glass in front of him. "We came in through the back way so we wouldn't run into anyone."

Jin nodded, not bothering to ask why as he thought the answer was fairly obvious. Every agent knew what had happened to Shiro, and Yuichi got the hint that he wasn't the type of person who wanted all the attention on him. The moment anyone saw Kikuchihara, they would probably ask if he was alright and pester him with other questions. Even Jin, being a people person, wouldn't want that.

"How's everyone at Tamakoma holding up?" Kazama asked, changing the topic.

Jin shrugged. "Same as anyone here," he replied lightly. "We're all more frustrated than anything considering there's really nothing we can do. Especially with the news that the police haven't managed to find him yet, despite us knowing he's staying around Mikado City. I mean, that much is evident by Miwa's surprise visit."

Soya nodded. "It's like we're sitting ducks, as the phrase goes," he said, his voice not giving away any of his emotion. "Like we're being forced to wait for him to make the next move. It would be helpful if we at least knew his motives, but it seems like both the police and Border are having trouble uncovering that."

"Miwa seems to think it's linked with the loss of his siblings in the first large scale invasion," Jin commented, keeping a neutral tone.

Kazama nodded. "Yes, the possibility is likely, but that doesn't help us. We need to figure out the link between the first invasion and his actions right now."

Jin silently agreed, about to say something else when a trion warrior appeared behind Kikuchihara. That was normal - it was a simulation after all, and the neighbors had been appearing all over the room. What caught Jin's attention was Shiro's clear hesitation. Because of it, the warrior was able to strike out at him, landing a direct blow. Jin didn't even need to hear the automated voice alerting them he was being forced to bail out - the amount of trion he was losing made it obvious.

He saw Kamaza narrow his eyes, and Jin glanced over, able to tell Kazama wasn't angry, but concerned.

"He's never let a trion warrior take him from behind like that," he muttered, suddenly walking into the next room.

Yuichi followed suit, and they walked in to see the brunette sitting up on the bed, back in his physical form. He looked up upon hearing the two enter the room, not at all reacting to Jin being there.

"I couldn't react in time," Kikuchihara said before Kazama could get a word out, trying to sound insistent. "It was too fast, I didn't have time."

Jin noticed how nervous Kikuchihara looked - nervous for Kazama's response or nervous about something else, he didn't know. He had a feeling it was linked to something else, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing if it was anyone's place to say something, it was Kazama's.

"You haven't let a neighbor get you from behind since you've started training," Soya said, keeping his voice neutral.

He paused, and Yuichi noticed Shiro look down. He was gripping the cover of the bed, clearly anxious.

"Kikuchihara," Kazama started, and the teen looked up at him. "I saw you hesitate. Do you want to tell me why?"

The brunette opened his mouth, looking as if he were about to deny it, but he quickly closed it, as if realizing there was no point. He looked away again, his grip slightly relaxing.

"It was just a mistake," he muttered. "It won't happen again."

Soya just stared at him for several moments in silence, and Jin could easily tell how the leader was feeling right now. He could see the concern on his face before what looked like a flash of guilt appeared.

"Kikuchihara, I-"

In that moment, both Soya and Yuichi's phones went off, startling the two while Shiro remained still. Jin pulled the device out, seeing a message from Miwa. He frowned, knowing if Soya got it too, it must have been important. He opened the message and quickly began reading.

He felt Kazama's eyes on him as he put his phone back in his pocket. The other leader raised a brow, silently inquiring about the message's details.

"Miwa wants to have a meeting with all the A rank leaders now," Jin informed. "Says he has some information he wants to discuss with us."

Kazama nodded before turning back to Kikuchihara. The teen was staring at a distant spot on the floor, looking as though his head was in another place right now.

"I don't want you leaving headquarters until I'm done with this meeting, okay?" Soya more or less ordered.

Shiro nodded, mumbling a 'yeah, whatever'. Kazama looked at him for several more moments, looking mildly guilty, before turning away and nodding to Jin.

"Let's go," he said simply, stalking out of the room with Yuichi right behind.

"Oh, Kazama? There's one more thing Miwa said in the message," Jin started, and the other looked back at him questioningly.

"We can't tell Kido or any of the commanders about the information he's about to disclose."


	8. Theories

Miwa didn't waste any time getting down to business - once all the leaders were in the room, he immediately began talking.

"So I've been thinking about this Nakamura guy, and a lot of his actions have really been confusing me," he started, knowing all the other agents felt the same. "However, the more I thought about it, I think I've been able to piece some of this together, and I might have an idea of what his true target is."

The other leaders looked to him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, waiting for Miwa to continue.

Shuji took a moment before responding, going over everything in his head once more before speaking. He knew he had to say this right; otherwise, it might leave the others more confused than they were previously.

"After looking at his file and seeing his siblings were killed in the first large scale invasion, I think it's safe to say everyone was confused as to why he was attacking Border, especially when we work to protect everyone from the neighbors. I discussed this with my team, and the only speculations we could come up with is that Nakamura is blaming Border for the deaths of his siblings. Of course, the question that remains is _why_ he blames the agency. From there, there's a bunch of possibilities as to why he blames Border, but we came up with one that wasn't similar to the others, that being the current agents at the time, or our current commanders, did something Nakamura found highly controversial.

"At first, I didn't believe in that possibility, because why would he try to kill off the new agents when they had nothing to do with the first invasion? But I didn't want to rule it out, so I went to Terashima to see if he knew the exact location of the bomb.

"He showed me on the blueprints of the building, and the first thing I noticed was that it was planted as close as possible to the area where the commander's table was. I found it interesting, but it could also be a coincidence considering all of us were in the same room. But, because the location was directly next to the building, I didn't understand how it could have been planted without anyone from security seeing it. Terashima told me he thought that too, and when he ran through the security footage, it was clear someone tampered with it and was able to replace the current footage with another tape.

"Trying to let that wonderful news sink in, I then asked Terashima if he had ran a simulation of the bomb. The thought hadn't occurred to him as he hadn't seen a point to it, but nevertheless, he ran one for me. And these results are what really intrigued me.

"The simulation showed what would have happened if we were in the building at the time of the explosion. And it showed that if Nakamura succeeded, the commanders would have been killed in the impact. There would be many casualties among the agents; however, there would have been very few deaths among us."

Miwa paused, allowing his words to settle in the others' minds. Everyone seemed completely shocked by the information, but skeptical as well.

"How is that possible?" Kazama asked, a frown on his face. "That bomb almost completely destroyed the area it went off at."

Miwa nodded, knowing this was a valid point. "I thought that too - I thought the simulation was inaccurate. But Terashima said the only reason that much damage happened, besides the damage from impact, was because the bomb was close to one of the foundation beams in the building - because that went, so did the walls and all the rest."

"Also," Shuji continued, knowing the others were having a hard time believing this, "consider the time he initiated the attack. It was late at night, meaning there was a very small possibility anyone could have been walking by who could have potentially been hurt. Also, he planned the attack for a scheduled event, when all the commanders were in one location at the same time.

"He came to my house, but he didn't even try to kill me - he just wanted me to join him, because 'Border isn't what we think'", he said with air quotes. "So he obviously knows where we all live, or at least has access to that data. If that's the case and he wanted agents dead, he could easily do that. And if he wanted the commanders dead, he could do that too. So then I wondered, if it's really the commanders he's after, why doesn't he just go their homes and kill them?

"But it clicks when you look at the timing of the bomb with the commanders' locations. Again, they were all in the same room. So, I think he's trying to initiate an attack when he can take them all out at once, rather than risk taking them out one by one. So, the party seemed like the best option to him - despite the risk of injuring other agents, it was his best chance to kill them at the same time."

Miwa stopped, watching the others to see their reactions. Most of them were still skeptical, but he could see his information was also beginning to click in their mind's. After all, how could it not? He too, had been in their position only hours ago, trying to piece everything together despite how unlikely the possibility was. However, once you looked at the big picture, it all seemed to make sense. At least, more sense than anything else so far.

"So let's say this is true," Tachikawa spoke up, his voice for once not smug. "That his real aim is the commanders, and not any of us. Why don't you want them to know about this?"

The others looked to Miwa expectantly, not that he was surprised. It was a reasonable question, after all.

"If we told them, they would dismiss it even if they believed the theory one hundred percent. The first reason they would dismiss it would be because if something controversial did take place during the first invasion that they didn't want getting out, dismissing their danger would be saying they did nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. The second reason is, in case you guys haven't noticed, most of the commanders aren't ones to run away from battle, and if they were in danger, they wouldn't take practical measures to ensure their safety. If they knew they were targets, they might use that to their advantage to draw out Nakamura which could end very badly."

The room grew silent once again, and Miwa knew he had managed to convince most, if not all, of them.

"Just to confirm, only agents at Border were made aware of the party, correct?" Arashiyama asked, and before Miwa could respond, Kako nodded.

"It was a private event," she said, looking at Arashiyama curiously. "There was no need for outsiders to know. Why are you asking?"

Miwa was beginning to sense where Jun was going with this, but he kept his mouth shut, letting the other explain.

"Well, if it was a private event, that means Nakamura had a way to find out about it, which means he may have other intel about Border or has some way to access private information," he started, a frown forming on his face. "And you know how the commanders have their bi-weekly meetings every Friday?"

The others nodded, and it took several moments for what Arashiyama said to sink in. Miwa watched as everyone's expressions changed from confusion to dread. Jun simply nodded, realizing everyone got the hint.

"Which means that, if this theory is indeed correct," Tachikawa said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, "we have two days to figure out a plan." He eyed Miwa. "You didn't happen to have thought of one already, have you?"

He grimaced slightly. "Not a very comprehensive one," he admitted. "Again, I thought of telling them, but knowing the commanders, they wouldn't put off their meeting and would instead use it to bait Nakamura. So I thought we could just have all the A rank teams patrolling discreetly, but that might alert Nakamura and prevent him from planting a bomb, or whatever he had planned. Which isn't entirely bad, but we also need to catch him at some point."

"We might as well try it," Jin spoke up, shrugging lightly. "Each team can cover a different area, and even if he manages to escape, we can at least figure out how he's getting here unnoticed."

Everyone looked around, silently agreeing that it was the best option they had right now.

"And what about the other agents?" Kako said, looking to Miwa with a brow raised. "Should we inform anyone else about this?"

"Tell your teammates, but no one else," Miwa responded, already having thought of this. "There's still a possibility that this theory is wrong, and if that's the case, I don't want the B or C ranks feeling safe because they aren't targets. I'd rather the others think Nakamura is trying to attack everyone - that way, they all remain alert and don't try anything risky."

Kako nodded, leaning back in her chair. Miwa looked around the table, seeing if there were any other questions. However, when it seemed there were none, Shuji figured it was a good time to conclude the meeting.

"We can figure out patrol areas tomorrow, so in the meantime, meet with your teams and just give them a brief overview of this. Other than that, I think we're all done here."

Everyone got up from the table, walking out of the room silently but with purpose. Miwa was the last to leave - he took an extra moment just sitting at the table, staring off at a random spot on the floor, allowing time for his thoughts to catch up to him.

Finally, with a sigh, he got up from the table, texting his team and telling them to meet in the team room now.

 _This is going to be a very long two days,_ he thought to himself, already thinking to the sleepless nights lying ahead.

 **Note : Hi, so once again, thanks for the reviews! Just wanted to address a few comments.**

 **Regarding updating schedule, it's kind of whenever I get a chance to update. I'm currently studying abroad and will be traveling most weekends, so updates might be a little longer than 2-3 days, but not much longer.**

 **And about the trion form comment, that's something I actually did consider when writing this piece. Obviously, if the agents were in their trion form, there wouldn't be any issue with harm or injuries and what not. However, for the sake of action and that the triggers can't harm humans not in trion form (not sure if that's actually true, but we're making it true for this fic), I decided not to include that. Agents in trion form would solve a lot of problems for the agents, but more problems leads to more excitement, and it's more fun to write :)**


	9. Mistakes

As soon as Kazama and Jin had left the room, Kikuchihara let out a breath he had been holding in for too long. He winced at the pain it caused his ribs, and he bit his lip, trying to keep his frustration down to a minimum.

Everytime he so much as breathed, pain flooded his chest, and regarding the wound on his back, it felt like it was getting ripped open every time he moved. His arm was another story, not so much hurting but being more of a nuisance. Luckily, he didn't have to wear a sling because the fractures occurred in his upper arm, but that meant he could barely move that arm. And, considering it was his dominant arm, it irritated him to no end. The only injury that wasn't bothering him as much was his concussion which luckily was only a minor one. An occasional flash of pain went through his head, but for the most part, that was already getting better.

But even then, the pain wasn't the worst part right now. His thoughts were still focused on the simulation, how he flinched and hesitated when a warrior stepped behind him. _Of course_ he heard it, but as soon as he did, his mind flashed to Nakamura, standing behind him with a knife in hand. Because of that, the neighbor was able to take him out.

Shiro unconsciously gripped the bed with his left hand, staring down at the floor. He messed up, and it wasn't something he could cover up. But at the same time, he didn't want Kazama to know how nervous he was, nervous because Nakamura was still out there, and if he knew he failed in killing Kikuchihara, he could easily come back for him. And even if he didn't come specifically for the brunette, he would go after the agents at some point anyways. And at this point, Nakamura was unpredictable, so he could appear at any time.

He felt so weak, not only in this moment but also back when the attack happened. He let Nakamura take him out so easily, and even though he survived, he was still allowing the man to dominate his thoughts. Every time he heard footsteps, or any odd noise, for that matter, he froze up until he was able to distinguish whose footsteps they were, or what the noise was. He couldn't even sleep, because he was afraid the moment he closed his eyes, Nakamura would appear in his bedroom. And if he did, Kikuchihara wouldn't even be able to fight because of his goddamn arm and ribs that hurt every time he freaking-

"Kikuchihara, I'm back," the teen suddenly heard, and he jumped slightly, startled by the intrusion before cursing to himself. It was only Kazama - it was hardly an intrusion. He should have heard him coming, but clearly he had let his thoughts overpower him. _Again._ Once again, he gripped the bed in frustration.

Shiro forced himself to relax, trying his best to appear normal in front of his team leader. "That was a pretty quick meeting," he said nonchalantly, glad that his voice was able to take on its typical disinterested tone.

Kazama nodded, looking at the teen with a guarded expression. "Yeah. Utagawa and Mikami are on their way - once they get here, I'll let you all know what we discussed."

Kikuchihara nodded, standing up and suppressing a wince. He really didn't want to deal with walking somewhere at the moment, but at the same time, he didn't want to be in the same room alone with Kazama, especially considering what had happened in the simulation room. He figured he'd take his chances in the hallway instead of waiting for the other two to show up.

"I'm going to go get a drink," Kikuchihara said, starting to move toward the door. However, Soya grabbed his good arm before he could leave, and Shiro flinched at the sudden contact.

"Kikuchihara, I want to talk to you before the others get here," Kazama said, his voice suggesting there was no room for argument. "And I know moving is bothering you, so just sit down."

The brunette bit his lip before silently turning around, doing as Kazama said as he took a seat at the table. He looked at Kazama with a neutral expression, waiting for the leader to say something.

Soya just looked at him for several moments as if trying to get his words in order. It only made Shiro more nervous, but he kept a cool gaze, hoping the more put-together he seemed on the outside, the quicker this would be.

With a sigh, Kazama sat across from hm at the table and began to speak. "Explain to me what happened in the simulation," he said, still maintaining a guarded expression.

Of course he would ask that. Kikuchihara sighed, looking at Soya with dull eyes. "Kazama-san," he more or less whined, "I told you, it was a mistake. It won't happen again, I promise."

Soya stared at him, causing Shiro's stomach to drop. Obviously, the leader didn't like what he said, and the teen resisted the urge to scoot his chair farther back from Kazama.

"You're going to have to come up with a better excuse, because I'm not buying that," Kazama responded with a frown.

Kikuchihara blinked at Kazama, quickly becoming nervous. "I don't know what you want me to say," he insisted, still playing it cool. "I told you the truth, so-"

"Why won't you just admit you're afraid?" Kazama cut in, the sudden outburst surprising Kikuchihara. He didn't sound angry, much to the teen's surprise. Instead, both his face and his voice resembled something more toward concern, and maybe guilt.

Shiro stared at Kazama, wide eyed and unsure of how to respond. Luckily, he didn't have to figure it out just yet, because Soya continued talking while looking directly into Kikuchihara's eyes.

"I get that you're a very closed off person and like to keep things to yourself, okay?" he continued, his voice slightly softer. "I understand. But at the same time, I can't help you if you won't tell me what's going on. And I _know_ something's going on - it's obvious you're acting different. And while you think you're doing a good job of covering it up, you're not."

Kikuchihara flinched and looked down to the table, unable to stop himself from doing so. He felt as if his chest was contracting, making it harder for him to breathe, and instead of responding to Kazama, he focused on getting oxygen into his body, not wanting the situation to get any worse than it already was.

Of course, his lack of response didn't make things any better.

"I thought you trusted me," Kazama stated, his tone indicating he clearly didn't understand.

Shiro immediately looked up. "I do!" he insisted, surprised by how offended he sounded.

And it was true - he trusted Kazama with his life. Of course, that wasn't the case when he first joined the team - he didn't trust Kazama for wanting him on his team when no one else did. However, with (a lot of) time, he became used to the other, and the more training the team did, the more he grew to trust his leader. Kazama had faith in him when no one else did, something that Shiro held more important than anything else.

"Then why won't you let me help you?" Kazama asked, the smallest hint of desperation in his tone, so small anyone else wouldn't have been able to pick it up.

Kikuchihara bit his lip, looking down once again as guilt began to take over. He had to keep reminding himself to keep breathing, but it was becoming hard when he also had to figure out how to respond to Kazama.

The room was silent for several moments, and Kikuchihara could see Kazama's expression quickly becoming hopeless. Shiro didn't want to disappoint him or hurt him or anything, but he was starting to feel backed into a corner, and that no matter what he said or did, it wouldn't go well.

"It's not that I don't trust you," he spoke up suddenly, just when Kazama had almost given up. He felt Soya's eyes on his, but the teen kept his trained on the table.

He paused, considering getting into the details as to why he wouldn't tell Kazama his feelings, but he realized he didn't know exactly how he would explain it. So, he settled on the safe path, the one that would hopefully get Kazama to stop asking questions.

"Yeah, I'm nervous," he said with a shrug, his heart pounding despite how calm he tried to act. "Some guy tried to kill me, and he's still out there, and he knows where to find me. So yeah, I've been startling easily, and I've been pretty anxious. And I'm sorry for not telling you."

He knew Kazama's eyes were on him, but Shiro refused to make eye contact.

"So, in the simulation…" Soya started, trailing off as to let Kikuchihara finish.

He thought back to that moment, and it was all he could do not to flinch at the recent memory. "The trion warrior reminded me of Nakamura, and I hesitated," he explained simply, leaving out the details, like how he literally froze in fear.

It was silent for several moments, and Kikuchihara was afraid his explanation wasn't enough. However, Soya finally let out a sigh, and Shiro slowly looked up at him, hoping this interrogation was nearing its end.

"This isn't going to get any better for you if you just try battling it on your own," Kazama stated finally. "I'm not asking you to tell me everything, but a little check in every day would be nice."

Shiro's stomach churned, but he did his best to ignore it. "Kazama-san, you don't need to act as my therapist," he muttered. "You're the team leader, and there's more important things you need to be focusing on."

Kazama's eyes widened ever so slightly, and Kikuchihara realized all too late that his words implied something that, clearly, Soya caught onto. The leader opened his mouth, about to respond to the statement, leaving the teen cursing to himself.

Luckily, in that next instant, Utagawa and Mikami walked into the room, and Shiro let out a sigh of relief. He was saved, at least temporarily. He saw Kazama eye him with a look suggesting they weren't done, but he then turned to the others.

"Right, well, now that everyone's here," he said, his voice back to its usual, authoritative tone, "let's get right down to it."


	10. Confrontations

Despite keeping his mind focused on the patrol, Kazama couldn't help but let frustration seep into his head. Since his confrontation with Kikuchihara two days ago, the teen had been avoiding him like the plague, save for when the team was together and there were others in the room with them. If anything, Kikuchihara's behavior only strengthened his belief that the two of them needed to have a discussion. He didn't know how long the teen thought he could keep avoiding things, but Kazama wasn't going to let it go so easily.

Besides that frustration, it was also building from the fact the commanders' meeting had ended five minutes ago, and they had left the room and dispersed without anything out of the ordinary happening. The leaders decided to remain in their areas just in case, but Kazama was quickly beginning to realize Nakamura wasn't coming.

But why? It was the perfect time to take out all the commanders - if, of course, that was what he really wanted. Several possibilities ran through Kazama's head - there was the possibility he found out that the A ranks were going to patrol, but then again, there was the opposite possibility that he didn't know and simply never had the plan to attack today. It was obvious that there were too many unknowns in this situation, and the amount of possibilities at this point were too numerous to count or even try to figure out.

A sudden voice in his earpiece took him from his thoughts.

"Alright, what do you guys say we have a quick meeting?" Tachikawa suggested. "Just us leaders - we can keep our teams out in their areas just in case, but I think we need to regroup quickly."

Several other voices chimed in, agreeing with the plan, and Tachikawa told everyone to head to the conference room the commanders were just in.

Kazama turned to Kikuchihara and Utagawa who were eyeing him expectantly. Well, more like Utagawa was as Shiro was still busy avoiding eye contact.

"Stay out here on patrol," Kazama ordered. "The other A rank leaders are going to meet right now, so I'll be back with instructions once we've finished."

The two nodded, and without sparing another second, Kazama sped off to meet with the others.

Soya and Arashiyama arrived at the same time, giving each other a quick nod before taking a seat around the table. Kazama discreetly looked around, trying to gauge how everyone was feeling from their expressions. And, from the look of it, everyone was in the same boat - frustration and annoyance was clear on everyone's face. Especially Miwa, although Soya didn't blame him - he was the one who suggested the possibility that the commanders were the ones being targeted. But after today, it made it seem as though the theory was incorrect.

"Alright, so it looks like Nakamura decided not to attack today," Tachikawa started when it was obvious everyone was waiting for him to speak. "Whether that's because he found out that we found out, or because he was never going to attack today, I don't know. But, I don't think we should throw our current theory out. I think right now, it's best we stay attentive, and when there's a situation where all the commanders are going to be together, we make sure we're prepared.

"However," he continued, his tone changing, "I do think we need to consider telling the commanders about our theory. If Nakamura catches on to the fact that we know, he'll change his tactics anyways to get around our patrols. Besides, if they are the ones being targeted, I think they should be able to have a say in how they act."

It was silent for several moments as everyone thought over what Kei suggested. Kazama thought it made sense in many ways - after all, they couldn't patrol every single time the commanders had a meeting. That, and the commanders would catch on eventually and would question the agents anyways. But at the same time, what Miwa said the other day, how they might try to act as bait to lure Nakamura, was also a strong possibility, one that he wasn't really sure was worth the risk.

"I agree with you," Kako spoke up, leaning back in her chair. "But at the same time, if the commanders act recklessly in an attempt to stop Nakamura, we face the possibility of their deaths. And in that case, how would we move forward in the event that all of them die?"

"Well, the way I see it is that regardless, they are facing the possibility of death the longer Nakamura is out there," Tachikawa responded. "So if there's a chance we can catch him sooner, we should take it."

"What I think we should do," Arashiyama cut in before the tension got too high, "is go home for the weekend and think about it. And then on Monday, we can all group together and discuss it. That way, we enough time to think about all the consequences, both good and bad, of each side."

It was silent once again as everyone considered Arashiyama's plan. Kazama was skeptical at first, because a weekend was a long time to go without making a decision. However, he also knew there would be no chance of the commanders all being together at any point over the weekend. That, and it was probably best for everyone to get a clear head before they started attacking each other.

"That's fine with me," Miwa replied, and the others soon chimed in.

Tachikawa let out a sigh. "Well, that settles it. We'll meet back here at eight on Monday. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded, and taking that as an indication the meeting was at a close, they all got up and quickly exited the room.

~(later)~

Kazama was feeling pretty proud of himself for thinking of the idea, although he didn't know why he didn't think of it the other day. It was quite simply, really - after all, they usually walked home together when their schedules matched. Things had been out of sync lately, but Kazama realized today was the perfect opportunity.

As soon as Kazama finished debriefing the team and told them to go home, he noticed Kikuchihara relax ever so slightly. However, that quickly changed when Kazama told him he would walk with him. Shiro stiffened once again, but Kazama knew he was in no position to argue. After all, his house was on the way to Kikuchihara's. They would end up parting as Soya went down a different street, but for the first fifteen minutes, they were going in the same direction.

Meaning Kikuchihara had no reason to tell Kazama no.

"How was the patrol for you?" Kazama asked as soon as they began walking, trying to start off lightly.

Kikuchihara shrugged. "Fine," he responded disinterestedly. Then, as an afterthought, "boring."

Soya nodded, placing his hands in his pockets. "And how were you mentally?"

Shiro scowled, looking down at the ground. "Fine," he repeated, his voice insistent. It was clear he was trying to stop the conversation there, but Kazama wasn't going to have it.

He was silent for several moments before continuing. "Kikuchihara, remember that statement you said about how it's not my job to be your therapist, and I have more important things to worry about?"

Despite his obvious attempt at trying to stop it, Shiro flinched - clearly, he had been expecting this.

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

"You do know it's my job to make sure my teammates are alright," Kazama stated, glancing over at the teen whose eyes were still fixed on the ground. "And not just because I have to, but because I _want_ to make sure you guys are doing alright. So sure, there might be other things for me to focus on, but my team is my main priority."

Kikuchihara nodded but remained silent. Kazama let it go this time, but only because he knew if someone told him something like that, he wouldn't be sure how to respond either.

It was silent for several more moments before Soya spoke up again. "Do you not think you're important? Is that it?" he asked, the question having been on his mind for quite some time.

"No, of course not," Shiro responded hastily, although his expression remained unreadable.

Kazama's frustration was peaking again, but he tried his best to be patient. "Then why would you say a comment like that?"

It was clear the brunette was becoming frustrated as well, as his gaze on the ground was turning more into a glare than anything. "It was just something I said in the moment," he said shortly. "I didn't think you would analyze it this much."

Kazama stared at Shiro, surprised by the anger that was managing to break through his cool exterior. Kikuchihara rarely got like this - sure, Kazama knew Kikuchihara was easily annoyed, but he never got angry. Kazama had only seen him like this one before - it was the only reason he knew the teen had other emotions besides annoyance and disinterest.

"Look, Kikuchihara," he started, but before he could finish a figure emerged from the alley adjacent to them, stopping several feet in front of the two.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be interrupting," Nakamura said lightly, a small smile on his face as he regarded the two.

Kazama stared at the other with a hardened gaze, his mind already thinking of strategies to overcome the man. Kikuchihara was out of action - that much was obvious not only from his injuries, but also from the way he stood, wide eyed and frozen in fear at the sight of Nakamura. The brunette's reaction only fueled Kazama's anger toward Nakamura, and he took up a defensive stance, knowing they couldn't run from this.

"What do you want?" he demanded, suddenly wishing he had kept his hands in his pockets. His phone was in there, and he could have easily dialed someone's number to let them in on the conversation and alert them to the fact they needed backup.

Nakamura took a step forward. "I'm sorry, but it seems I made a mistake in trying to kill you," he said, turning so he was only addressing Shiro, acting as though Kazama wasn't even there. "It seems as though I need you now."

Before either of the two could react, Nakamura was in front of Kazama. Without any warning, Kazama felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and he let out a gasp, looking down to see the hilt of a knife sticking out. He heard Kikuchihara scream, but it sounded so far away.

"I'm sorry," Nakamura said, "but I simply could not afford to waste time fighting you."

Nakamura yanked the knife from his stomach, and blood immediately began pouring from the wound. Kazama just stood there in shock, his mind unable to tell him what to do. He watched as Nakamura grabbed Kikuchihara, placing a hand over his mouth so no one could hear him screaming what Kazama thought was his name. The teen was struggling so hard against Nakamura, but it was clear that, with his injuries, it was hopeless.

 _I need to help him,_ Kazama slowly thought, and he tried to take a step forward. However, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, managing to catch himself with his hands.

He heard Nakamura say something, and he looked up, watching as Kikuchihara continued to struggle against the man. Kazama's vision was blurring, but he could see Aiko press something into Shiro's neck. Within moments, he had stopped struggling and had gone completely slack.

 _No,_ Soya thought, trying to move. However, his head was spinning so much, and the only movement he managed to complete was completely collapsing onto the pavement, watching as his vision slowly changed from blurring to grey spots and, finally, black.


	11. A Change in the Change of Plans

Tachikawa frowned, deep in thought as he drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the surface of the table. Since Nakamura's no-show, Tachikawa's frustration had brought back an idea he had been considering a couple days ago. He knew it probably wasn't the smartest, but he felt like they were running out of options. If they continued to play on the defensive side, Nakamura could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. And quite frankly, Tachikawa was tired of playing this game.

Deciding it was worth simply asking, Kei called Jin, figuring he was either at Tamakoma or had gone home by this point. He waited patiently as the line rang once, then twice, then-

"Tachikawa, it's not often I see your name on my screen," Jin answered lightly.

Tachikawa fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, well I had an idea, and I wanted to see if you were in," he responded, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh yeah?" It was clear from the tone of his voice that his interest was peaked. "And what is it?"

"I want to investigate Nakamura's house," Kei said, his voice, for once, lacking its usual playful tone.

There was a brief silence on the other end before Yuichi responded. "The police already investigated," he stated, although Tachikawa could tell Jin was trying to hide the curiosity from his tone.

"Yes, but we were never told what they found there, simply that nothing in his home would be useful in this investigation," Kei said. "And that may be true, but I want to see for myself. After all, the police's definition of useful might be very different from ours."

Another hesitation, then, "You know Kido would be angry if he found out about this."

Tachikawa fought a smile, knowing instantly he had sold the idea to Jin. Despite being rivals, Kei knew he and Jin and a very similar way of thinking, and he knew if anyone would be in, it would be him.

"Then I guess we'll have to keep it on the down low."

Yuichi let out a small laugh. "Alright, fine," he conceded. "When are we going?"

Kei shrugged before realizing Jin couldn't see him. "I was thinking tonight, not too late though, just in case he makes a surprise appearance. Maybe seven?"

"Yeah, that's fine by me. Where are we meeting?"

Tachikawa frowned, not having thought about that part yet. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted, "but I was going to see if Kazama wanted in too, just so we have enough fighters if necessary. I'll text you where to meet once I get his answer."

Jin gave a, 'sounds good', before hanging up.

Tachikawa brought his phone back from his ear, quite pleased with how easy it had been to convince Jin of his idea. Hopefully, Kazama would agree - it might be harder to convince him, but Kei was sure he would agree to come with them. With the three of them going, Tachikawa was positive that on the off chance Nakamura showed up, they could fight him off, and maybe even capture him. But, even if the man didn't appear, having three agents to investigate would make the process much more efficient.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Tachikawa pulled up Kazama's contact information and dialed his number. However, after the fourth ring, Kei was directed to voicemail. He frowned, hanging up without bothering to leave a message.

It wasn't typical for an A rank agent not to answer their phone, especially one of the leaders. However, Tachikawa figured that either Kazama was still here and with his team, or maybe he had gone home and was showering or something like that.

Deciding to check on the first possibility, Tachikawa got up from his seat and headed toward Kazama's team room. The walk was short, and when he arrived, the door was shut. He tried opening it, but it was locked, indicating that no one was there.

Okay, so that left the other possibility - that he had gone home already and was probably distracted with something else. Tachikawa frowned, glancing at his watch. It was only four thirty - he had agreed to meet Jin at seven. Tachikawa knew Kazama didn't live too far away - only about a twenty minute walk. He figured it wouldn't do any harm to drop by and see if he was there - after all, Tachikawa's team had long since deserted headquarters, so it wasn't like he had any reason to stay.

He sent a quick text to Jin before strolling out of headquarters. He headed straight, hoping he remembered how to get to Kazama's house. He had been there once before, but it had been a while ago. He did remember it was pretty easy to get to though - just walk straight some ways before taking a right, and then...left..? Kei shrugged mentally, knowing he would figure it out once he saw some familiar sights.

Several moments later, he passed by a small park, indicating to him he was on the right track.

 _So I just have to walk a few more minutes, and the turn should be up here,_ he thought to himself, proud he had remembered.

However, his good mood soon dissipated as Tachikawa neared the turn. Off in front of him, he saw what looked like a person lying down on the sidewalk. He frowned, unease beginning to build in his stomach. He began walking faster until he got close enough to recognize the green jacket on the fallen figure, which at that point, he began sprinting while simultaneously pulling out his phone.

He was on the phone with 119 by the time he reached Kazama. He kneeled down, already noting the blood covering the sidewalk.

"My name is Tachikawa Kei, and there's a Border agent down," he paused his frantic speech, taking a moment to look up and figure out just where the hell they actually were. "I'm about one hundred meters down from Natsume Cafe, and I need an ambulance, _quick._ "

He heard the operator on the other end say something along the lines of, 'someone is on their way right now,' but he wasn't paying too much attention to the details. His focus was on Kazama who, despite still breathing, looked like death.

"Kazama," he said, shaking him carefully. "Can you hear me? Come on, wake up."

Tachikawa was surprised when Soya's eyelids actually fluttered open. He looked at Kei, although he was clearly dazed - Tachikawa wasn't sure if Kazama was even seeing him clearly or not.

However, he was proved wrong when Kazama spoke up. "Tachikawa," he started, sounding like he was using all of his strength to talk. He tried to sit up but immediately winced, bringing a hand to his abdomen.

"Alright, let's not do that right now," Kei said, trying his best to keep his voice calm for the other.

Kazama shook his head and continued trying, and figuring he wasn't going to let up, Tachikawa helped him so that he was seated with his back against the wall of the street. A sheen of sweat had formed on his forehead from the effort it had taken, and Tachikawa looked to him nervously.

"Don't worry," he assured, although he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or Kazama more. "The ambulance is on the way."

"Tachikawa," Soya started again, trying his hardest to focus, "Nakamura...he took Kikuchihara."

Kei couldn't help it as his eyes widened in surprise. What? That didn't make any sense - just the other day, he tried killing not only Kikuchihara, but all the other agents at Border. And now he was kidnapping people? His head was spinning as it tried to wrap itself around this new development, trying to make sense of it. However, Kei soon realized it was hopeless right now - Border's lack of information was only making Nakamura's actions seem more and more unpredictable.

Kazama was clearly fading out, but luckily, Tachikawa could hear the sound of a siren echoing in the distance, coming closer to their location.

"You guys...need to find him," Kazama said, interrupting Kei from his thoughts. His voice barely above a whisper, and he was barely managing to keep his eyes open.

Tachikawa wasn't sure if he was saying this because he knew he would be unconscious for some time, or he knew he was going to die; regardless, Kei took it as the former. "Don't worry, we'll get him back safely," he responded as an ambulance suddenly appeared.

Medics quickly got out, carefully placing a now unconscious Kazama onto a gurney before loading him into the back of the vehicle. Kei watched the scene unfold, knowing someone was talking to him but unable to register what they were saying. He felt like he'd walked onto some movie set. This was the second time in the span of a week where an agent had been brought to the hospital with the possibility of death highly likely. Tachikawa wasn't used to this kind of thing - as a matter of fact, no one at Border was. And quite frankly, he didn't want to become used to this.

His thoughts drifted to what he last told Kazama, that they would get Kikuchihara back safely. It had seemed like the right thing to say at the time, but now that he really thought about it, maybe he shouldn't have promised something like that. If they were dealing with neighbors, Kei would have no doubts about making a statement like that. But with this guy?

Suddenly, Tachikawa wasn't sure about anything anymore.

 **Note:Sorry for the lack of things happening in this chapter, but it was necessary to show how Kazama was found. Thanks for all the reviews, and glad you guys are liking it so far :)**


	12. Some Answers

Kikuchihara slowly found himself drifting awake, blinking while he adjusted his eyes to the light. His mind was extremely hazy, and at first, everything in his vision remained a blur. He tried shifting his position but found he was unable to move.

The brunette glanced down dazedly at his good arm before looking to the other, noting they were restrained. With his returning senses, confusion tinged with panic began to fill his body and only increased when he tried moving his legs, only to find they were restrained too.

Kikuchihara looked around the room, trying to quell his rising fear. Much to his surprise, the room he was confined to wasn't some dingy basement, although it wasn't anything special either. It was somewhat small, with several cabinets lining the wall opposite where Shiro lie. It was rather dimly lit, but Kikuchihara noted that one of the lights was currently turned off, and another lamp stood unplugged in the corner. A small table was next to whatever it was he was lying on, and he got the sense it wasn't tableware that was normally placed on top of it.

 _What the hell is going on?_ He thought, wracking his brain for what happened before he blacked out. He didn't know why it was so hard to remember - he couldn't have been unconscious for that long, could he?

Shiro tested the restraints once again, trying his hardest to loosen them, but with growing despair, he noted they weren't budging. Despite that thought, he continued trying, until the sudden sound of approaching footsteps made him freeze. He waited as the steps grew closer and closer until they stopped right outside the door, pausing to unlock it before entering.

"Ah, good, you're awake," Nakamura said with a small smile, carrying a bag that he brought over and placed on the table.

Nakamura..?

Kikuchihara's eyes widened as the memories suddenly rushed back into his head. Of him and Kazama walking home, only to be confronted by _him._ And then he pulled out a knife, and -

"You killed him," he said, his voice devoid of emotion as his mind brought him back to the scene, remembering how Nakamura had just stabbed Kazama and left him there to die, while Kikuchihara could only watch in horror, unable to do anything. A torrent of emotions began to surface, but he wasn't sure which he should predominantly be feeling - was anger or grief more important right now?

Nakamura looked confused before quickly figuring out what Kikuchihara was talking about. "Him? Oh, yeah," he said with a shrug. "He was in the way. Just like you were in the way for my first plan. Sometimes you have to kill innocents to reach the final goal."

Shiro stared at him, certain his disbelief was evident in his expression. Nakamura _killed_ a person, and he didn't even care one bit. Kikuchihara was at a loss for words - he wanted so badly to feel angry _,_ to just start yelling at Aiko, but he suddenly felt as though he couldn't even speak, couldn't even breathe. His body felt numb all over, almost as though he had fallen through a sheet of ice and into a lake and was now drowning, unable to move or react in any way.

Kikuchihara was vaguely aware of Nakamura moving around the room, grabbing things from cabinets, but his mind was still in another place. It was only after Nakamura turned on the overhead light right above Shiro that he managed some reaction, despite it only being a mere flinch.

"Oh good," Nakamura said, dumping a few things on the table. "So you are still here."

Shiro tilted his head slightly, feeling at least somewhat back in the present and aware of his current predicament. His emotions were overwhelming, but he tried his best to push them aside for the moment as he looked at the table to see what had been placed on it.

"Oh, this stuff?" Aiko said, having noticed Shiro's gaze. He held up three scalpels, observing them before selecting one of them and putting the others off to the side. "I've designed a device that somewhat mimics your ability of enhanced hearing," he explained, fiddling with something else. "Although, it's not perfect, so I figured, why not use you and try to figure out how to optimize it?"

Kikuchihara kept his gaze on the table, unable to look at Nakamura. He probably should have felt afraid, but his emotions were still too jumbled to feel anything.

"How would I be of any help?" he asked, his voice dull. He could have explained his side effect was a result of his excess trion, but the teen didn't have the energy to keep talking. That, and Nakamura most likely already knew that.

Aiko shrugged. "Well, maybe you can't," he admitted. "But I'm still curious to see if, besides your excess trion level, there's anything different about you that could help me to enhance my device."

Nakamura picked up a bottle before taking a syringe and loading it with the contents of the bottle; Kikuchihara couldn't help but allow a shiver to run through his body at the sight.

"Why do you need this thing so badly?" he asked, wanting information despite the small part of him saying it would be of no use if he was confined here.

Nakamura looked at him, the syringe still in hand. "Well, I don't _need_ it," he said, a small frown on his face. "But it would help with my next plan. If I can hear someone approaching from farther away, it will give me more time to react and ensure there's minimal disruptions."

Kikuchihara suddenly felt sick. "So in other words, you're using this to kill people off before they can let anyone else know you're doing something."

Nakamura stared at him for several moments before letting out a sigh, opening his mouth to respond. However, Kikuchihara cut him off as a sudden yet small burst of anger emerged within him.

"Why are you even doing all of this?" he demanded, the slightest tinge of bitterness in his tone. "How can you just stand there and talk about killing innocent people like it's nothing?"

A frown formed on Aiko's face, and he let out a sigh. "It's so sad how Border has brainwashed not only its agents but everyone in this town as well," he responded, shaking his head. "As soon as a commander at the agency gives an order, everyone follows without question. And it's sad, really, because most of you actually think you're doing the right thing."

Kikuchihara looked at Nakamura with an expression of confusion. What the hell was he even talking about? Border existed to protect the people of Mikado City, and its actions showed just that. And if Nakamura thought something else was going on, he was clearly in the wrong.

Seeing the teen's doubtful expression, Aiko continued on. "Tell me, agent," he started, his voice losing its cheerful tone, instead picking up a more serious one. "Who started the first large scale invasion? It was neighbors, right?"

Shiro frowned. He wasn't sure where Nakamura was going with this, but regardless, he nodded his head.

"Well, that's what we're led to believe, right?" Aiko continued, not stopping to allow Kikuchihara to respond as he got more and more into his speech. "And why would we question that? We all saw the attack, and we all saw how it was Border who put the neighbors down and saved everyone. So that's why everyone has complete faith in the agency. But me?"

He paused, and Shiro couldn't help but shiver at the angered expression on Nakamura's face.

"I saw something different from everyone else, and it led me to question everything about Border, starting with the first scale invasion. How do we know that those who started Border didn't instigate the war by going to enemy territory prior to the invasion?"

Kikuchihara stared at Nakamura, wondering if this man was even sane. The original agents of Border knew about the neighbors before the invasion, but they were too busy developing their technology to even think about going to a neighboring planet. And even if they could have, why would they?

"Yes, we've been told the neighbors are attacking because they need our resources, but is it not fair to say Border needed theirs too?" Nakamura paused, glancing at Shiro before continuing. "They needed a way to fight and compete with the neighbors, and what better way to get that technology and other information that to get it at its source?"

The brunette kept a neutral expression, not daring to allow the thoughts crossing his mind. Currently, he was thinking that what Nakamura said had a small possibility of being true, but either way, that didn't make Border bad. It certainly didn't justify for the destruction caused by the large scale invasion.

"After getting access to Border's records, I tried to look up any information," Aiko continued, "but, funnily enough, they had no records of any sort prior to becoming an official agency, meaning they were either very foolish, or they were trying to hide something.

"It's also worth noting how much the neighboring attacks has increased since Border's official establishment. Yes, part of this is because the neighbors have gotten better technology, but do you think they would attack so much if they didn't feel as threatened?"

The room was silent as Nakamura looked to Kikuchihara, waiting for a response. At this point, Shiro wasn't even sure _how_ to respond - he knew Aiko sounded crazy and was really stretching things, but in an odd way, some of it made sense to the point where it could be a small possibility.

Realizing he was thinking that, Kikuchihara frowned inwardly at himself, suddenly mad that he was even giving it any thought. No, he was simply upset his siblings had been killed in the invasion and was trying to place the blame on something tangible. His hatred was ringing clear in his tone, and Kikuchihara figured that with a hatred that strong, Nakamura would convince himself of anything to get rid of the ones who he felt were to blame.

"That's all just speculation," the brunette finally said in a neutral tone, ignoring the raised brow Nakamura gave him. "Those are just excuses to hate Border. So what is it that you're leaving out? What did Border do that affected you so personally?"

A brief expression of disbelief crossed Aiko's face; however, it was soon replaced with a devious smile. "You don't miss out on the details, do you?"

Shiro remained silent, watching as Nakamura's smile shifted back into a frown, hatred once again taking over his expression.

"Two of your current commanders killed my younger siblings," he stated, his eyes narrowed. "Both my brother and sister had been injured by a neighbor, and all they needed was an ambulance. But these saw my siblings and ended their lives, saying they wouldn't have made it, and it was just to _end their suffering._ "

Nakamura paused briefly as he brought himself back to the present. He then turned to Kikuchihara, and the teen had to force himself not to flinch from the expression on the man's face.

"They had a chance," he hissed, "they had chance, and Border took that away from them. How can anyone trust an organization that says they exist to save lives when it's clear they do the opposite?"

Kikuchihara remained silent, shocked by his words. The fact that two of the current commanders were the ones to kill Nakamura's siblings rather than neighbors certainly did change things, and it showed why he so desperately wanted to harm those at Border. However, knowing all of the commanders and how they tended to act, Shiro knew intuitively that their choice wasn't a mistake. Everything they did was tactical, thought out in much detail as to encompass any and all potential consequences. Nakamura would forever be blind to that because he never had to work for the commanders - that, and considering it was his siblings killed, he most likely would never be able to think logically about the situation.

Suddenly, Nakamura's anger seemed to evaporate out of him, and he ran a hand through his hair.

"That took too long," he said with a frown, the tension once in the room no longer there. Glancing down to see he was still holding the syringe, he brought it up to Kikuchihara's good arm, pricking his arm with the needle before the teen had a chance to react. Shiro looked down at the needle, trying not to panic at the unknown substance being injected into his body.

"Don't worry," Aiko continued, pressing down to inject the liquid into Kikuchihara's arm. "It's just a sedative, some sort of anesthesia, if you will."

And it was clear he wasn't lying - despite the uncomfortable sensation crawling up his arm, Kikuchihara slowly found himself losing touch with everything around him. He tried his hardest to focus, afraid of what would happen if he fell asleep. He still had so many questions and so many things he needed to piece together, but his mind was unwillingly shutting down on him despite his attempts to remain awake.

He didn't know how long it took - all he knew was that within moments, everything had started to blur, and at some point, he had completely blacked out.


	13. Insight

Jin lay on the roof of Tamakoma, trying to get his thoughts together. It was still very early in the morning on a Saturday, so he knew no one would come up here to disturb him. Sometimes, he liked when people came to accompany him, but today, he needed his space.

They had received word that there was another incident with Nakamura, this time involving Kazama and, once again, Kikuchihara. Luckily, he was told Kazama's injury wasn't life threatening, and he would most likely wake up at some point today. But Kikuchihara? No one had any idea why Nakamura would go from trying to kill the teen to kidnapping him. It made not only him nervous but the other agents as well. Nakamura was acting too unpredictable, and Jin was starting to get the sense that others were starting to feel doubtful about this ending in their favor. Not that he could blame anyone - even he was starting to feel dejected. Considering he still hadn't seen a single future involving Border and Nakamura, he was slowly beginning to accept that his side effect would be of no help. In which case, they would have to rely on the police and their investigation as well as the information they had currently.

So basically, they had no other help to end this case.

Jin lay there for a little while longer, unsure what time it was when he finally decided to get up and see if anyone was awake yet. However, as soon as he stood up, he suddenly began seeing something in his vision, something that wasn't happening here and now.

Jin saw himself staring at Nakamura who was being restrained by Miwa. He could tell they were outside the conference room at headquarters, and they weren't the only ones - several other agents surrounded the man, including Tachikawa's team and the rest of Miwa's team.

Nakamura suddenly gave a harsh smile. "Looks like you guys only have eight minutes to defuse the bombs," he said, his tone full of arrogance.

Jin was suddenly pulled back to reality, optimism slowly building inside of him once again. He had just seen a future with Nakamura, _finally._ Although, truth be told, it was incredibly short, so Jin couldn't get much information from it. Despite that, he now knew that Nakamura was indeed planning another attack on Border, and this time, he at least knew they would catch him.

However, the vision didn't reveal where the bombs were located, for one, and two, it was impossible to tell what day this was occurring. Jin wracked his brain, thinking of which days could be a possibility for this attack. Considering they had caught Nakamura outside the conference room, it could potentially be another attack on the commanders, meaning this vision could take place at their next biweekly meeting. But that was so far away, and what if the attack wasn't specifically targeting the commanders? In that case, the bombs could be anywhere in the building.

Yuichi suddenly froze, a thought coming across his mind. The commanders were having a meeting in two days, on Monday. It was out of the ordinary, but considering the events occurring as of late, it wasn't surprising. No one knew what information Nakamura had access to, or how much, but in any case, it was completely possible he had gotten information about the meeting.

Of course, there was also the possibility Jin was wrong, and his vision was taking place another day. However, he knew even if the possibility of this occurring Monday was very slim, it wasn't worth the risk of not telling anyone.

After one more moment of pondering, Jin headed downstairs hurriedly. If no one was awake yet, well, he would be waking them up.

~~(Same Day)

"What do you mean I can't leave?" Tachikawa heard someone ask from a few rooms down, and from the sound of it, the person was angry. He quickened his pace, reaching the room a few moments later to see Kazama upright in bed looking as though he was arguing with the nurse.

"Excuse me," Tachikawa said, and the two turned to him as he strode into the room and over to Kazama's bed. "But would you mind giving us a moment?" he said to the nurse.

She looked to him, glancing back at Soya before nodding. "Sure. I will be back in a little while to complete his check up."

With that, she strode quickly out of the room, seeming almost relieved to get out of the argument. Not that Kei could blame here - when Kazama had his mind set on something, he was hell to argue with.

"Tachikawa, I need to be released from here," Kazama said, not bothering with greetings. "Can you call the commander to issue the hospital to release me?"

Tachikawa shook his head, watching as Kazama's face fell. "Kazama, I can't do that. You were just admitted yesterday - you need to rest for at least a day."

Kazama's expression slowly turned to one of frustration. "Have you found Kikuchihara yet?" he asked, more or less glaring at Tachikawa. He must have given away something from is expression, because Kazama continued, his voice more forceful. "I need to get out of here and help find him."

Tachikawa opened his mouth to respond, but he hesitated as he watched something cross Soya's expression. He still looked frustrated, but there was something else. Was it guilt? Fear? Kei couldn't figure it out - he hadn't seen such an expression on the leader before.

With a small sigh, Tachikawa pulled a chair over and sat down next to Kazama. "No offense," he said, trying to take on a light tone, "but with your current condition, I don't think you'd be any help. I know he's your teammate, but there's also the rest of us at Border who are in better condition than you who can help. So just let us take charge until you're out of here, alright?"

Kazama looked about ready to argue, so Tachikawa cut him off before he could do so. "Besides, we may have a way to figure out where Kikuchihara is."

Kazama raised a brow, skeptical yet curious. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"Jin's side effect showed Nakamura in headquarters, captured by us," Kei replied, watching as Kazama's face became ever so slightly hopeful.

"Granted," he continued, getting to the bad part. "He's there because he planted bombs and we have to diffuse them."

And just like that, Kazama's expression was back to an angry one. "Yeah, I know it sounds bad," Tachikawa said, knowing the situation was indeed bad. "But at least we have him, so we can get information out of him, including where your teammate is. And now that we know this is coming, it'll give us a better chance of diffusing the bombs before anyone gets hurt."

Kazama was silent for several moments as if allowing the words to register in his head. Then, "Two questions. One, do we know when this is happening?"

Kei hesitated before responding. "Jin's vision didn't say specifically, but he thinks it could be Monday because the commanders have a meeting. But, it could very likely be any other day as well."

Soya nodded, keeping his expression neutral before continuing. "Second - you say 'bombs'. Just how many are we talking about?"

Tachikawa ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, about that," he started, giving a small smile. "We're not sure about that either. Could be two, could be ten for all we know."

Kazama nodded, silent for several moments as he stared off at the wall. Finally, he turned back to Tachikawa. "In that case, I need to be out of here today."

Tachikawa wanted to be surprised at Kazama's stubbornness, but at this point, he had become used to this type of behavior from him. As a team leader, he was incredibly logical when it came to dealing with situations out in the field. But, when it came to himself outside of the battlefield, he tended to be a bit more careless.

"Kazama, if you leave here today, you're going to be more of a hindrance than a help," Tachikawa stated, his tone more harsh, hoping it would get the point across more quickly. "Sure, you can go in your trion form, but if you get out of this bed, you're going to start bleeding out again. So just give your body the day to recover before you go and do something stupid."

Kazama glared at Tachikawa, and the two remained in silence as they waited for the other to break either the eye contact or the silence first. Tachikawa was beginning to get nervous though - Soya didn't seem to have any intention of letting down any time soon. However, just when Kei was going to break, Kazama sighed, his glare softening ever so slightly.

"Do you know how helpless I'll feel just sitting here while everyone's getting ready for a potential attack?" he said.

Tachikawa took it as an indication he was finally giving in. However, the frustration in his tone was still ringing clear. And he couldn't blame him - not only was his teammate in danger, but so was the rest of Border.

Kei gave him a soft smile. "Yeah, I know. I'll make sure you know what's going on and if we get any information, okay?"

Kazama let out a soft sigh, nodding his head. "Fine. But I expect to be out of here at the earliest time they'll allow me."


	14. Uncertainties

Kikuchihara felt as though he could sleep forever if it weren't for how uncomfortably hot he was. His head felt like it was on fire, and the rest of his body was simply a few degrees less warm than his head. He resisted the urge to groan, his mind suddenly reminding him he was somewhere with Nakamura, and in that case, he didn't want the other man to hear him.

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open, noting he was still in the same room. He tested his limbs once again to see if they were still restrained, and unfortunately, they were. However, Shiro noticed his arms and legs felt significantly weaker. He moved them, but they definitely seemed off - off in a way that made Kikuchihara think if he could even stand up, he would simply collapse back down. He quelled his panic, figuring it was simply the result of whatever drug Nakamura had injected into his body. It was still probably running through his body, causing him to feel so hazy and weak.

Trying his best to ignore his current situation, he allowed his thoughts to drift back to his conversation with Aiko. The man was planning on attacking Border again, but Shiro didn't know how long he had been out. What if Nakamura had already launched his attack?

Despite knowing it was pointless, he tested his restraints again in frustration. He felt so _helpless_ \- he was stuck here with more information than anyone else while the others at Border were still in the dark, waiting for an attack to come. If he could just get out of these damn restraints, then maybe he could find a way out of here. However, the only thing that could potentially cut through them was a scalpel left on the table, and it was too far out of his reach to be of any use.

He suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, and it was clear they were coming toward him. It was awfully convenient, considering he had just awoken, and he briefly wondered if there was a camera in the room before the door opened, revealing a smiling Nakamura.

"Look who's finally awake," he commented, striding over to the teen.

Kikuchihara did his best to glare at him, but it was hard when everything was so blurry and seemed to be spinning all around him. Nakamura simply laughed at the attempt and grabbed something from the cabinet before coming back. He wrapped it around Shiro's good arm, and he suddenly felt a building pressure where whatever was wrapped around his arm was. The pressure soon released though, and he realized Nakamura was taking a blood pressure reading.

"So it seems like there isn't anything different about you that will help me with my hearing device," Aiko said, the pressure building once more before being released again. "It looks like it really is just your trion."

He took the wrap off his arm and set it down. "So, then I had a thought, completely unrelated to my hearing device, but since I had you here, I thought, why not?"

His voice was only furthering the building migraine in Kikuchihara's head, but unfortunately, he was in no place to do anything about it. He could only lay there and listen, hoping the man would leave soon.

"I was curious to see if the amount of trion you have would impact the way certain drugs act in your body, to see if the trion would metabolize it more quickly, or if it would have the same effect as anyone else. So, I injected a paralysis drug, but it appears as though your trion didn't have an impact on that either."

The numbness in his limbs now made sense, and it provided little relief to Shiro as he realized Nakamura hadn't done anything to permanently immobilize them. However, the slightest bit of dread began to form in his mind, wondering if he was simply going to turn into Nakamura's test subject. Considering Nakamura had managed to evade both the police and Border this entire time, it wouldn't surprise him if no one could find where he was located. And especially if Nakamura managed to actually succeed in his attack, which from the way he was talking had clearly not executed yet, Kikuchihara didn't know how long he would actually be here.

Being lost in his own muddled thoughts, Shiro suddenly realized how silent the room was. He glanced at Nakamura, realizing the man was just looking at him, his expression for once not smug or overly cheerful. Instead, he looked almost as if he was in another world.

"My younger siblings would have been around your age if they had survived that attack," Nakamura said, his soft tone taking Kikuchihara by surprise. "In fact, you kind of remind me of my brother. He was a bit more cheerful, mind you, but you guys are similar in appearance.

"You don't have any siblings, right?" he continued, and Shiro simply stared at him, not bothering to answer considering Nakamura clearly already knew the answer. He was becoming increasingly wary about this, unsure where this was coming from or what the hell Nakamura was thinking.

Aiko didn't acknowledge his silence, continuing on as normal. "Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have siblings? To have someone to look after, and vice versa?"

Kikuchihara remained silent. Of course, he had thought about it - almost every only child had. However, he didn't want to encourage Nakamura to keep talking, so he figured silence was his best option.

Nakamura must have caught on to the fact the brunette wasn't answering, because after several moments of silence, he let out a sigh. "You know," he said, his voice sounding thoughtful, "I haven't really worked out the details of what'll happen with you once I am finished with Border. But, I had an idea, that maybe I could take you to another country, and I'll show you what it's like to have a sibling."

The room was silent as Kikuchihara stared at Nakamura, dread building in the pit of his stomach. Was Nakamura actually delusional? He had just tried killing the teen only days ago, and now he wanted to become family with him? And how did he even think that would work? He was a criminal, and he couldn't just go around with a kidnapped teen in tow.

"Of course," he continued, looking up, "it would take some time getting used to for you, but I think it's better than any alternative..."

Nakamura was still talking, but for some reason, Shiro found he couldn't hear or even pay attention to the man. Without having realized it, his breathing had picked up, and for some reason, his chest felt extremely constricted. He tried to slow his breathing, but he felt like he couldn't get enough oxygen to his lungs when he did so. His throat was closing up, and despite the small part of his brain telling him to calm down before it got worse, he found he was unable to do so. He knew panicking was only making it worse, but it was all he could do in the moment.

Kikuchihara felt a slight prick in his arm, but he didn't pay any attention to it, still focused on getting his lungs to work. However, he found his vision was quickly dimming, and with a fleeting thought, he realized that Nakamura must have injected him again with the anesthesia. He soon found his breathing slowing down, and before he knew it, everything had gone black.

 **Note:Thank you all for the continued reviews!I will try to listen to some of the requests, but I pretty much have the rest of this all sorted out, so I'm sorry if some of them don't make it in. But I'll try my hardest :)**


	15. Tension

The meeting was currently taking place, due to end in fifteen minutes. Miwa had been there earlier, watching as the door to the conference room shut almost an hour ago with all the commanders inside. He tried to quell his growing anxiety, but it was becoming difficult to do so. Prior to the meeting, Tachikawa and Arashiyama's teams inspected the conference room, unbeknownst to the commanders, but the room was devoid of any sort of weapon. The area surrounding the conference room had been inspected too, and finding nothing there, they extended the search to other parts of headquarters. However, as hard as they searched, nothing came up. It could have been a good thing - it could have meant Jin's vision had shown him an event that wasn't supposed to happen today. After all, nothing had shown up on any of the security cameras, and seeing how Terashima created a code to alert him to any hack into the security system, it was likely the footage they saw was the real thing.

Or, the other possibility was Nakamura _did_ find a way inside, and he had done a very good job of concealing the bombs.

Miwa wanted to punch something, but he knew he had to keep calm and stay focused. His team, as well as Kako's, was assigned to patrol the area around the conference room for the duration of the meeting, just in case Nakamura made his appearance. And truthfully, he wanted so desperately for the man to show up, just so they could put an end to this. But lingering doubts floated around his head - there weren't many places to hide at headquarters with all the agents around, and he was beginning to think if Nakamura was really here, he would have been caught by now. And if he really was here and hadn't been caught, well, Miwa was starting to wonder if the agents were all in over their heads with this one.

"Miwa," Yoneya's voice said through his earpiece. "Everything good down there?"

Shuji resisted the urge to look up to the second level, where he knew his teammate was patrolling. Miwa could tell from his tone he wasn't asking about visuals but rather how Miwa was fairing mentally. However, this wasn't the time nor place for him to rant all of his frustration and doubts, especially when the rest of the team was connected to the audio as well.

"So far, no sign of him," he responded, answering the question the way he saw fit. "Narasaka, Kodera, anything on your end?"

He received two "no's", and he nodded, fighting the urge to sigh. "Just stay on alert," he reminded them, shifting his attention back to his area.

He was about to call Kako and see if she had any progress when the slightest motion caught his eye. Miwa frowned, turning his gaze down the hallway. It was one of the halls containing some of the lounge rooms, the end of it leading toward the simulation area. He took a step forward, certain he had seen someone move into one of the rooms. It wasn't likely to have been an agent - most had remained out of the way once noticing the A rank teams seemingly on high alert. So what then?

Miwa placed one hand in his jacket pocket, fingers gripping a small pocket knife. He brought it with him that day, figuring in the off chance he caught Nakamura alone, it would be enough to hold him off until his teammates came.

Shuji approached the door he saw the movement come from, and, taking a deep, focused breath, he opened the door carefully.

An arm shot out from the side, giving Miwa barely enough time to dodge out of the way to avoid impact. His gaze instantly narrowed. So he _had_ been right - it wasn't an agent, it was Nakamura.

"Guys, I need you in the lounge hallway, _now,"_ he more or less shouted to his teammates through his earpiece, dodging another advance from Nakamura. He heard one of them respond, but he couldn't make out what they said - he was too focused on dealing with what was in front of him.

Surprisingly, Nakamura wasn't saying anything. He delivered punch after kick, not giving Miwa any time to breathe. He was dodging the most direct of the attacks, but he knew in a prolonged fight, he wouldn't be able to keep up. Nakamura was too fast, and he clearly had experience in human combat. And while Miwa had combat training too, it had never been directed against harming a human. So, even though he had a knife, both Nakamura's speed as well as his own fears of landing too harsh of a blow prevented it from being of any use.

Aiko kicked out at Miwa, and he knew before the blow landed he wouldn't have enough time to jump out of the way. He raised his arms in defense, preventing the kick from reaching his chest. And while his movement prevented damage to his ribs, it sent the knife clattering out of reach, rendering him completely defenseless. Before he could react, Nakamura was already throwing a punch. He dodged to the right, but not before he felt something sharp skim his side. He stifled a hiss, glancing down for a nanosecond to see a hint of blood begin to drip through the tear in his jacket. When had Nakamura grabbed a knife?

Another figure was suddenly there, lowering himself to the ground as he delivered a sweeping kick directed at Nakamura. The man, not having expected the attack, fell to the ground. He still gripped the knife, but seeing his chance, Miwa nearly threw himself on top of the man, not wanting him to get up again. He was about to shout a command to Yoneya, but the would-be command was answered without having to open his mouth. A foot suddenly stepped down on Nakamura's wrist, causing him to drop the knife.

Miwa was prepared for a struggle; however, it didn't come, much to his surprise. Nakamura's body went completely relaxed under Miwa's weight, and a smug look crossed over his face.

Shuji glared at the man, furious that, even though he was caught, he still had the nerve to look so arrogant. What the hell was even wrong with this guy?

"No more fooling around," Miwa growled, focusing solely on Nakamura. "You're going to tell me where you hid the bombs, alright?"

Nakamura simply laughed in response, irking Miwa even more. He could sense his teammates look around at each other, but Shuji kept his gaze on the man below him.

"And why would I tell you that?" Aiko responded, his tone coy as he raised an amused brow at Miwa.

Miwa grit his teeth, pressing down his growing anxiety. They were running out of time, and he couldn't waste what time they had left dealing with Nakamura.

"You're already going to prison for what you've done," he snapped. "But if you tell us where these bombs are, you'll be in prison for a lot less time than you will be if you let them go off and kill all these people."

Nakamura was silent only a moment before he spoke again, the smugness never leaving his face. "My prison sentence is of no concern to me."

Miwa stared at him, unable to help the exasperation that crossed his expression. He was trying not to panic, but it was growing hard not to. If Nakamura wouldn't talk, there was no way they could stop this. And if they couldn't stop this…

Nakamura laughed again. "Okay, fine," he conceded. "I'll tell you, but only because there's no way this situation will play out in your favor.

"One bomb is in the ceiling underneath the conference room," he started. "The other, well, it's in the floor right outside the door. It's weight sensitive though, so even if you try to evacuate the commanders from the room before the other bomb is set to go off, it will simply activate as soon as one of them steps on it."

Miwa stared at Nakamura, his mind running a thousand miles per minute as he thought of how they should deal with this, and what they should do first.

"Kodera," he said, turning his head ever so slightly to face his teammate. "Go tell Kako, and radio in a few other squads to locate that bomb. Kako's the one with experience in diffusing them, so make sure she gets all the help she may need with that."

Kodera nodded, running out of the room. Miwa then turned to Narasaka. "I need you to call one of the commanders and alert them to stay in the conference room until they hear from us that it's safe to come out."

Narasaka started to nod, but a laugh from Nakamura made him freeze. Miwa turned his gaze back to Aiko, ignoring the small pool of dread forming in his stomach as he wondered what was so funny.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention," Aiko said, a smile clear on his face. "I hacked into your communications system. You can communicate with each other, but all communication to any of the commanders as well as external communication is blocked off. So, you don't really have a way of letting them know anything.

"Which kind of sucks in your case, because the bomb is set to go off in five minutes, the same time that their meeting ends."

~~()~~

All A rank squads, minus Miwa's team, were in the room underneath the commanders' conference room, ladders brought out to check out the ceiling. Kako instructed them to be extremely careful - she didn't know how sensitive Nakamura had designed his bombs, and in the case they were sensitive, any movement could cause it to go off.

The entire situation was tense - Miwa had informed them they had five minutes to find and disable the bomb. Kako knew it was very little time, but she still had confidence they could complete the task. But the other part, being the communication with the commanders was blocked off, was troubling, especially because she wasn't entirely sure yet what to do about the bomb placed outside the room.

"Kako, over here!" she heard, and the leader turned toward the sound of Arashiyama's voice, seeing Tokieda at the top of a ladder. She dashed over, knowing immediately they had found the device.

Without needing to ask, Kuroe brought over another ladder, and Kako quickly scaled to the top so she was right next to Tokieda, peering in the ceiling tile.

She fought the urge to let out an exhalation of relief. The bomb was directly next to the ceiling tile Arashiyama's team had removed. If they had removed the next one over, well...she didn't want to think about it.

Keeping her composure despite the time crunch, she examined the device, looking at the different wires and components as she tried to compare it to the other devices she had worked with. This was something she hadn't seen before, but from what she could tell, it was similar to another bomb she had been trained to diffuse. If she was right, all she had to do was disconnect the wire connected to the power source. Simple enough.

That was, if she was right.

Fighting down her nerves, she pulled out a pair of scissors from her pocket, carefully picking up the red wire. She traced it down to the power source, just to ensure this was the wire she was looking for. Then, before she moved to cut it, she paused.

"Tokieda," Kako said, "tell everyone to get out of here. Just in case this isn't the right wire, I don't want everyone getting injured here."

"Kako, we trust you," he responded almost immediately. "Just do what you have to do."

She was about to argue, but she stopped herself, knowing it was pointless. Even with her insistence, she knew the teams wouldn't leave. Besides, they were running out of time, and the longer she waited, the less time they had to figure out the other issue.

Fighting the urge to close her eyes, Kako took a deep breath and brought the scissors over the wire. She felt her heart stop as she closed the scissors, waiting for some sort of reaction. However, instead of a massive explosion going off, the lights of the device went off. It had been diffused.

Kako let out a sigh of relief, turning to Tokieda. He had seen the lights go out too, and they both exchanged a hopeful expression. One down, one more to go.

Not giving herself any time to waste, Kako scrambled down the ladder, Tokieda following suit. They didn't have to say anything - it was obvious the bomb had been diffused. The tension in the room lowered ever so slightly, but there was still the other bomb on everyone's mind, preventing them from feeling much joy from this small accomplishment.

"Miwa, the ceiling bomb has been diffused," Kako said, speaking into her earpiece, already moving into the hallway to get closer to the entrance to the conference room. "But I trust myself to mess with the other bomb. We need communications back up so we can tell the commanders to stay where they are and so we can contact the police."

The response was almost immediate. "I know. Kodera and some of the operators are working on the situation now," he said, and Kako could hear the strain in his tone. "I'll let you know if they can get through to them."

Kako nodded, trying to press down her growing anxiety. The meeting was due to end in two minutes. Meaning, if they couldn't figure out a way to get through to the commanders, they were done for.

~~()~~

Kodera, Tsukimi, Kunichika, and Mikami were working on individual computers, trying to hack back into the communication system while Ayatsuji and Yuitsuka went to Terashima's room, hoping there was something there that could reestablish some sort of communication link.

None of them were speaking, but the tension was clear in the room. Kodera glanced at the time, noting they had only about two minutes before the meeting was scheduled to end. They had to figure something out, fast - otherwise, this wasn't going to end well.

He was good with computers, but it was becoming clear to him that this task was way over his head. Kodera was running out of things to try, and he was afraid that maybe there was nothing they could do. What if all their efforts were simply wasted?

"Guys, we hacked into Terashima's computer," Kodera heard in his earpiece, recognizing Ayatsuji's voice. "Yuitsuka's looking now, but we think this is how we can get access to communications."

It was silent as everyone waited for them to respond. Kodera glanced at the clock again, noting there was one more minute. He bit his lip, urging them on in his head, hoping they would hurry up. However, time kept dragging, and with increasing fear, he didn't think they were going to make it.

"It's back on!" he heard Ayatsuji shout, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Arashiyama," she continued, speaking to her team leader through everyone's earpiece, "call one of the commanders _now."_

~~()~~

Arashiyama didn't need to be told twice. Without wasting another second, he called Kido, pushing the call through as an emergency so the man was sure to pick up. He waited one ring, two, knowing everyone's eyes were on him, anxiously awaiting a response.

"Arashiyama," Kido's voice rang through, his tone unrevealing. "What is it?"

"Sir, I have to ask you and the other commanders to stay in the conference room until you hear from one of us that you can come out," he responded, knowing how incredibly strange that sounded to Kido.

"What is going on?" Kido asked, his tone more forceful.

"Nakamura placed a weight sensitive bomb outside the conference room," Jun explained, trying to keep the frustration from the entire situation out of his tone. "If one of you steps out, it's going to go off. External communication as well as communication with you has been off, but we just got it back on. The police are on their way, so you need to remain where you are until then."

The other end was silent for several moments before Kido finally responded. "Very well," he said, his voice still calm. "And Nakamura? Did he get away?"

Finally, a good piece of news he could deliver. "We have him secured," he assured. "He isn't going anywhere."

"Good," the commander said, and despite his neutral tone, Arashiyama knew he was relieved. "Let me know when it is safe to leave. And in the meantime, try to get some information out of him before the police arrive."

Jun nodded before hanging up, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They managed to diffuse a bomb and prevent another from going off all in the nick of time. Nakamura had been caught as well, meaning all of this, waiting for an attack, business was over.

He glanced around the room, seeing the tension visibly deflated. Most of the agents had triumphant looks on their faces, glad the situation was over. They had won, and no one had died in the process.

Arashiyama suddenly heard the sound of footsteps , and he looked up to see Kazama, in his trion form, stride into the room.

"Where's Nakamura?" Kazama asked the room, anger clear in his expression.

And just like that, their victory flew to the back of his mind as he realized they weren't completely finished with Nakamura. Because there was still one missing agent, and Nakamura was the only person who knew where he was.


	16. Lost and Found

Kazama stood in front of Nakamura, who was currently tied to a chair in Miwa's team room. Miwa and Yoneya stood by the door in case Aiko tried anything funny, but it almost seemed pointless. Despite his anger at having his plan ruined, Nakamura wasn't trying to escape - he remained immobile as he faced Kazama.

"Where is Kikuchihara?" Kazama demanded, trying his hardest to keep himself from assaulting Nakamura.

The man gave him a smirk, although it wasn't filled with as much amusement as it was prior to his plan being ruined. "I see you survived," he noted.

Kazama grit his teeth. "Where is he," he asked again, in no mood to put up with Aiko's bullshit.

Nakamura, however, didn't seem to care about Kazama's preferences. "And why should I tell you?" he asked, raising a brow. "I have no incentive to tell you, as far as I can see."

Soya glared at him, unsure of how to respond. Nakamura was right, of course. It wasn't as though he could get his prison sentence reduced by informing them of Kikuchihara's location. And considering that was the road he was headed toward, Kazama couldn't think of any other benefit Nakamura would get from telling.

"Nakamura, you're done with," Kazama snapped, allowing his frustration to seep through. "Your plan was ruined, and you're going to prison. You have no reason to not tell us where he is. And considering you lost your family, I would think you wouldn't want to put someone else through that situation."

Kazama stopped talking, surprised at the words that came out of his mouth. He wasn't really sure where they came from, but he felt like it was true. Yes, he had his own family, but he also felt like his team was one too, in a weird way. Despite their differences, Kazama felt like Utagawa and Kikuchihara were like the younger brothers he never had, not that he would ever tell them that.

Nakamura flinched slightly from his words, but he didn't appear to be done yet. "He isn't your family," he hissed. "You use each other to remain a top team in Border, that's it."

Kazama stared at him, pitying Nakamura for the briefest instant.

"You let your hatred of Border cloud your judgement," he responded, his voice firm. "I don't know why you hate the agency so much, and I don't care at the moment. But if you think teams have no connection with each other, you're wrong. There's this thing called trust, and building relationships, and it's something we've all had to do here. And I'm sorry if you think agents at Border are incapable of doing that, but that's the truth. And that's why I'm going to ask you again - where is Kikuchihara?"

Nakamura looked at him, not speaking for several moments. Then, "And what if I don't want to give him up just yet?"

Kazama glared at him, surprised he was still arguing. "You don't have a choice," he snapped. "You're going to prison."

Aiko chuckled. "You're wrong if you think a prison can keep me locked up."

Soya looked at him in disbelief, only causing the man to laugh more. "But," he continued, the smirk back on his face. "I suppose I could tell you, simply because I don't have a use for him anymore. That, and you already know where he is."

Kazama's breath hitched, confusion settling in his gaze. What did he mean? If they knew where he was, they would have found him already.

Nakamura smiled, relishing in Soya's confusion. "Obviously, neither Border nor the police are a match for my technologies," he said with a smirk. "Because despite already investigating my home, neither of you were able to find him."

Kazama heard Miwa and Yoneya shift behind him, but he didn't turn, instead keeping his focus on the man in front of him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, anger settling in his voice once again. How could Kikuchihara have been there the whole time, without anyone finding him?

Nakamura laughed again. "I've already told you where he is - he's hidden within my home, and that's all I'm going to say. The rest is up to you."

~~()~~

After explaining the situation to the police, who had, finally, arrived, they allowed Kazama to come with them to Nakamura's home to investigate. He was still in his trion form, too weak to go back to his physical form, but he didn't care - he would revert to his physical form to rest once he knew Kikuchihara was going to be alright.

They finally arrived to his home, and while Kazama entered behind a group of six officers, an ambulance waited outside. Kazama hoped they wouldn't need it, although knowing Nakamura, his hope was probably in vain.

Nakamura's house wasn't very large - it was a one floor flat - but despite the size, the officers split up, looking for any sign of a secret room or entrance. Considering Nakamura said Kikuchihara was hidden in his home, a secret room had to be the only explanation - there was no other way he could be hidden in the house otherwise.

After around ten minutes, Kazama heard a shout, and he ran into what appeared to be the living room. A female officer was kneeling on the ground, a carpet thrown to her side. She glanced up at Kazama and the other officers who appeared in the room, and without wasting any more time, she pulled up on the floorboard, revealing a set of stairs. Kazama's stomach dropped, but he pushed his emotions to the side as three of the officers went down the stairs. He didn't know what he would find, but he had to stay focused for his teammates sake.

He followed the officers down the concrete stairs, going down quite a ways until they reached the bottom. Immediately, they came to a door, and after cautiously twisting the lock, the female officer who discovered the staircase entered the room, hand hovering over her gun.

Kazama took in the scene, feeling as though everything was moving in slow motion. As soon as he entered the room, his sight locked on a body, lying on what appeared to be some sort of operational table. The officers rushed over, and Kazama simply trailed behind, hoping against hope his teammate was still breathing.

Luckily, he was, but Kikuchihara didn't seem to be doing so with ease. His breathing was shallow, his eyebrows drawn in as if something were wrong. He could see through the teen's bangs that there was a large cut on his forehead. Kazama also noticed droplets of sweat on his forehead despite how pale his skin was, an indication that something was definitely wrong. Dried blood covered his neck, and Kazama could see what looked like an incision mark near his ear. He glanced back to the cut on his forehead, and he realized this too was some sort of incision. His gaze then trailed downward. Shiro's torso was bare, and there were several incision marks near his heart, approximately where the trion gland was located.

The female officer began undoing the restraints tied around his ankles while Kazama stood in the background, lost in thought. Nakamura had been using Kikuchihara as some sort of experiment, or something like that. He wanted so desperately to feel angry, and he did, but he felt more, broken, at the sight of seeing his teammate in this state. He watched as one of the male officers carefully picked the brunette up and began moving up the stairs, and all Kazama could think was this shouldn't have happened, especially to someone like Kikuchihara.

Kazama followed them up, feeling as though he were in a trance. The male officer brought Shiro to the ambulance, and one of the medics got out to place him onto a gurney. He began loading him into the back of the vehicle while another medic began pulling out several different supplies.

Kazama suddenly felt someone shake his shoulder, and he turned, seeing the female officer standing next to him with a concerned expression.

"We're staying to investigate a little more," she said, her voice neutral. "I spoke with the medics before, and if you want, you're free to go with them to the hospital."

Kazama nodded, not bothering with a response. He walked over to the ambulance, and upon seeing him, one of the medics in the back nodded to him.

"You'll have to sit in the front," he said before turning back to Kikuchihara.

Soya nodded once again and moved quickly to the front of the vehicle. He got in, and almost immediately after he sat down, they were off, bringing Kazama to the hospital for the third time in the course of two weeks.

 **Note:hey, sorry this chapter is a bit short, but the next one will be longer. Next update will not be until Tuesday or Wednesday because I will be traveling.**

 **Also, someone asked if I will be doing another WT fic after this. Right now, I'm working on something else, so I don't have plans right now for another fic in the immediate future. Sorry, but I'm glad people are enjoying this one :-)**


	17. Emotions

"Kazama, don't you think it's time to revert back to your physical form?"

Kazama looked up from his seat in the waiting room to see Tachikawa, with Utagawa and Mikami trailing next to him.

"Your physical body needs rest," Kei continued, "and the only way it's going to do so is by getting out of your trion form."

Kazama sighed, knowing he was right. He had just been so caught up in everything that was happening, and he was afraid to revert back to his physical form before hearing about Kikuchihara's condition. He had only been in the hospital one day before being released, and he knew he still needed to rest. His only fear was if he reverted back, he would pass out.

"I will once I hear from a nurse," he replied, shifting as the three took seats next to him.

Tachikawa looked ready to retort, but Kazama cut him off. "I just want to know he's okay first, just in case I pass out or something," he insisted. "As soon as I know, I'll revert."

Tachikawa sighed but didn't argue. The four reverted to silence, not having any words to say. They had won against Nakamura in the end, foiling his plan while getting Shiro back; however, Kazama was almost afraid to hear what had happened to the teen. The situation with Nakamura may have been over, but it didn't mean it wouldn't have lasting effects on Kikuchihara.

"Kido said the police are going to try and interrogate Nakamura," Tachikawa spoke up finally, keeping his eyes on the floor in front of him. "Just to see if they can figure out his motives and what not."

Kazama nodded. "Answers would be nice," he admitted. Despite having caught Nakamura, no one knew any of his reasons for his actions. Even though his motives wouldn't change what he did, Kazama was still curious to see if this guy had legitimate reasons to hate Border, or if he was just plain psychotic.

The sound of footsteps caught Kazama's attention, and he as well as the others looked up to see a nurse approaching them. He quickly stood up, and she gave him a reasurring smile.

"I take it you are all here for agent Kikuchihara?" she asked, and after the four nodded, she smiled again, seeing as the group was clearly anxious. "He's going to be fine. The doctors found an anesthetic - like drug in his system, and that, coupled with several infected cuts, created a rather high fever. He's been given antibiotics to treat it, but it will take a couple days for the fever to go down."

Kazama let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, relief flooding into his system upon hearing, for the second time, that his teammate's condition wasn't fatal. Of course, his relief wasn't entirely complete, considering he still had no idea what had transpired in the time Shiro had been gone.

"Is he awake?" Utagawa asked, pulling Kazama out of his thoughts.

The nurse shook her head. "He's currently unconscious, and we aren't sure how long he will be for. He may be in and out of consciousness, or he could be asleep until his fever is at a low enough grade. It's hard to predict with fevers."

Utagawa nodded, and it was clear from his expression he was disappointed with the answer. Not that Soya wasn't either; at this point, he figured everyone just wanted to see him conscious and okay again.

"Am I allowed to be in the room with him?" Kazama asked, and the nurse nodded in response.

He felt the others looking at him, ready to retort, but Soya beat them to it. He turned to face everyone. "You guys are going home," he commanded, even to Tachikawa. "It's been a long day, and we don't all have to be here waiting here for Kikuchihara to wake up. So go home, and I'll let you guys know when he's up."

"Kazama-san," Ryo argued, "he's my teammate too. I want to be here too."

Kazama shook his head. "I understand, but I don't want you here all night, because even then, he might not wake up tonight. Besides, you have school tomorrow, and you need some rest after everything that's been happening."

Utagawa frowned, looking like he was about to say something, and before Soya could interject, Tachikawa beat him to it. "I agree with Kazama," he said, catching the others by surprise. "Kazama can let us know when he's fully conscious, alright?"

Ryo was silent for several moments before finally giving in with a sigh. "Fine," he relented, his voice indicating he still preferred staying. "But I want to hear from you as soon as he's awake, regardless of what time it is."

Kazama nodded. "Alright, I can do that."

Utagawa nodded one more time, still lingering as if hoping Soya would change his mind. However, Tachikawa gently grabbed his arm, giving Kazama a wave as he started leading the teen to the exit, Mikami trailing behind silently. Kazama watched them go for several moments before turning back to the nurse, giving her a nod as an indication that he was ready to go to Kikuchihara's room.

She smiled. "Right this way, then."

~~()~~

The chairs in the hospital were not comfortable in the least, but after several hours of being back in his physical form, Kazama found himself nodding off. He wanted to remain awake, but he also didn't think Kikuchihara was waking up anytime soon. So far, he still seemed the same as when they found him earlier that day, although his skin had regained some of its color, and his breathing was slightly less shallow. Kazama couldn't see the state of the incision wounds as they had been covered up, but he could only guess they were slowly getting better thanks to the antibiotics. He couldn't see the wound on the teen's back either, but the nurse assured him it hadn't gotten worse during his time with Nakamura, thankfully.

Kazama was almost at the point of unconsciousness, welcoming the prospect of getting some sleep. However, just before he could completely nod off, a slight sound of movement coming from the bed woke him. He opened his eyes immediately and saw Shiro's expression move ever so slightly, looking more troubled than placid as it was before.

Kazama sat at the edge of his chair, suddenly unsure of what to do. Should he call the nurse? He quickly decided against it - after all, she said he might be going in and out of consciousness. This could be what was happening now.

"Kikuchihara?" he said tentatively, unsure if it was wise to try and rouse him.

A small groan came out of the teen's mouth, and he moved his body ever so slightly. "Kazama-san?" he mumbled, his eyes still shut.

It was clear to Kazama he was only half conscious and would most likely be sleeping within moments. However, it didn't stop the leader from trying to talk to the teen.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied, fighting down a smile from relief after hearing his voice. "How are you feeling?"

"It's so hot in here, Kazama-san," Kikuchihara responded, the sound of pain intertwined in his tone.

Kazama felt his stomach twinge at the sound of his voice, but he pressed his pity down and forced himself to respond in a calm tone. "It'll be alright," he said, speaking in a comforting voice despite figuring the teen wouldn't even remember any of what he said. "I'll ask a nurse to turn down the heat in here, how does that sound?"

Shiro drew his eyebrows in more. "I think I'm on fire," he mumbled, clearly delirious from the fever.

Kazama would have laughed if not for the situation he was in. "I know, but it'll go away soon, I promise."

It was silent for several seconds, and Kazama thought Shiro had fallen unconscious yet again. However, he was proved wrong when he opened his mouth again.

"You're not dead, right?"

Soya blinked, temporarily confused by the question until he remembered that the last time Kikuchihara had seen him, he had been stabbed by Nakamura.

"I'm not dead," he responded, "it takes much more than a knife wound to kill me."

Shiro seemed to relax ever so slightly. "Good," he mumbled, his voice sounding farther away. "I would have been upset if you were dead." He paused, then added, almost as if it were an afterthought, "but don't tell anyone I said so."

Kazama couldn't help but allow the smallest of a smile to form on his face, His teammate was half-sleep talking, but his words still sounded like something he would say when fully conscious - well, at least the last part.

"Don't worry, I won't say a word," Soya finally said, although he wasn't sure if Kikuchihara heard him. His face had gone slack once again, and after a couple minutes of no response, Kazama knew he had fallen unconscious again.

~~()~~

Despite how uncomfortable his chair was, Kazama managed to sleep through the night, waking up around seven the following morning to a throbbing in his abdomen. He grit his teeth in annoyance, already wishing his wound would heal already so he wouldn't have to deal with it. The leader knew if he let it go, it would only get worse, and with reluctance, he knew he had to run out and get some type of painkiller. However, he was in a hospital, so he assumed he could get a small bottle of advil in the store on the lower level.

With one more glance at Kikuchihara, he left the room, walking as quickly as he could, which, considering his state, wasn't that fast. However, he managed to get to the shop, find some painkillers, and make it back to the room in under ten minutes. And it seemed as though it was just in time, because moments after entering the room and downing a pill, Kikuchihara stirred, almost as if he heard the noise in the room.

Kazama went back to his seat by his bed, waiting patiently. He didn't know if his teammate was actually waking up, or if this was another half-awake situation again, but regardless, he wanted to be there either way.

Several moments went by with no further movement, and Kazama began to think it was simply a fluke. However, before he could begin to relax his position, Shiro stirred again, and this time, he managed to blink his eyes slowly open.

Kazama was silent, watching as the teen took in his surroundings through half lidded eyes, clearly still out of it. His eyes finally met Kazama's, and his eyes opened ever so slightly, making him look like he was somewhat back with reality.

"Hey there," Kazama said finally, unsure of what exactly to say. "How are you feeling?"

Kikuchihara was silent for several moments, simply looking at Kazama before shifting his gaze back to the ceiling.

"Like shit," he responded honestly, closing his eyes against the discomfort.

"Well, considering you had a fever above forty degrees, I would say that sounds reasonable," Soya said lightly, trying to deviate from his typical serious behavior.

Shiro simply groaned in response, throwing his good arm over his eyes as if shielding them from the light. "What happened to Nakamura?" he asked, his tone deviating ever so slightly from its neutral tone.

"He's in police custody," Kazama said, "he's going to prison. We don't have to worry about him anymore."

He watched as Kikuchihara visibly relaxed, letting out a breath that he seemed to have been holding in. The two were silent, and Kazama wasn't sure if it was because the teen was thinking, or if he didn't really have anything to say. Kazama himself had so many questions, but he wasn't sure if he should bombard Shiro now, considering he just woke up, or if he should stick to lighter matters for now.

"He was trying to kill the commanders," Kikuchihara said suddenly, interrupting Soya from his thoughts. "His siblings were injured by the neighbors, and seeing as they weren't going to make it, two of the commanders killed them so they wouldn't have to suffer. He made up a bunch of crap too about how Border is to blame for all the neighbor attacks, but that was just his attempt at making up a theory that made his actions seem righteous."

Kazama was silent for a moment, allowing the words to sink in. So, two of the current commanders had been Nakamura's motivation for killing off all the others. Clearly, their well intended action had sparked enough hatred in Nakamura to not only target them, but even those who weren't involved. But even so, what was he trying to accomplish? Did he think that by taking down the commanders, Border would cease to exist? He still had so many questions, but he wanted to give Kikuchihara the chance to breathe without having thousands of questions thrown at him. Besides, the teen would most likely have to give a statement to the police, regardless of whether or not they managed to get any information out of Nakamura himself. Kazama could hopefully get his answers then.

"He's very smart," Kikuchihara continued, his arm still covering his eyes, "but he was clearly blinded by his hate. I mean, some of the things he said...he sounded crazy, except I knew he wasn't."

Once again, Kazama wanted to know what else he said, but he put off his curiosity for now. Another question had been on his mind since the day they were attacked, and he wasn't sure if he could hold off on asking.

"Kikuchihara," he started, a bit hesitant, "why did he take you?"

"He wanted to see if there was anything different about me besides my trion levels that helps enhance my hearing" he replied, his tone indifferent, but Kazama could catch the slightest bit of strain. "He wanted to create an earpiece that enhanced his hearing for his mission. But he didn't find anything useful."

Soya nodded. From the locations of the incisions, it made sense. However, it still made him feel sick that his teammate had been treated like some sort of test subject. He had been with Nakamura for almost three days, and he came back with several infected cuts that indicated what Nakamura had done, but what if there was more? What if Nakamura had done more that wasn't so clear to see?

"Kazama-san," Kikuchihara said suddenly, and Soya looked over at him in surprise, not realizing he had drifted away into his own thoughts.

"You're holding back," the teen continued, almost as if he had read Kazama's mind. "If you're worried about upsetting me, don't. Just ask me whatever's on your mind."

Soya stared at Shiro, surprised at his offer. He was normally a closed book, unless he was complaining about something. And now, he was giving Kazama the chance to have some of his questions answered?

He realized he had been silent for several moments, and he figured if he waited any longer, it would only make the situation uncomfortable. Taking a silent breath, he asked the first thing on his mind.

"What happened...when you were with him?" His hesitation was clear in his voice, but he wasn't sure if it was hesitation because he was afraid of asking the wrong question, or if he was afraid of the answer.

However, Kazama didn't see any change in the brunette's composure - in fact, he still seemed rather calm. He wasn't sure if it was because he knew he was safe, or he was playing indifferent to cover up how he really felt.

"Nothing really," he responded, removing his arm from over his eyes as he slowly blinked them open. "I asked him why he was doing all this, he told me, then he put me under and did whatever to me. I woke up at some point, and that's when he told me he couldn't find anything useful. I was really out of it though, so I don't remember exactly what happened. I think he put me under again. Then I woke up here," he concluded, seemingly nonchalant.

However, Kazama picked up on something in his voice. He glanced at Kikuchihara, and it only seemed to confirm what he thought - the teen seemed troubled, indicating he was most likely leaving something out. And he had his bets on where he was leaving information out.

"You say you don't remember what exactly happened?" Kazama repeated in as gentle of a tone as he could muster. However, he noticed Shiro stiffen regardless, and he knew he hit the mark.

Shiro was silent for several moments, looking down at his blanket before opening his mouth to respond.

"Kazama-san," Kikuchihara said. The leader looked back at the brunette, watching him as he tried sitting up, struggling at first as he regained senses through his limbs. Knowing his teammate's stubborn tendencies, Kazama sat back, watching until Kikuchihara finally managed to rest his back against the headboard. The effort clearly strained him, but it was obvious he was trying to ignore it.

Shiro glanced at Kazama, opening his mouth before shutting it again and moving his gaze back to the blanket. He was silent, but Kazama waited patiently, not wanting to say something that would prevent the teen from saying what he wanted to say.

"I thought he killed you," he said finally, his voice so low it was almost a whisper. "And at first, I didn't really care what happened to me because it...it _hurt,_ thinking you were gone. But when I woke up that second time, he started talking about us becoming siblings after taking down Border, and I just…"

He paused, suddenly looking as if his mind was in another place. The heart monitor was beeping more frequently, and Kazama became slightly worried. However, he didn't want to interrupt now, knowing whatever Shiro was going to say was clearly important.

Gripping the blanket like a lifeline, the brunette finally continued on. "I didn't know how long I was going to be there," he said, sounding more calm. "But I knew that if no one found me, I would be living the rest of my life with the man who killed you, and maybe other agents at Border, and that...scared me. Because I knew there was no way I could do that."

Kazama could see Kikuchihara's good hand trembling, and something told him it wasn't from exhaustion. He knew he should say something, but he was at a loss for words. He hadn't realized nor expected how much of an impact his supposed death had on the teen. In any other circumstance, it would have touched him, knowing his teammate actually more than tolerated him. However, seeing how shaken Kikuchihara was, it only made his chest ache.

Kazama knew he had to be supportive now, but he was never good in situations where he had to be comforting. It was new territory for him, and considering it was also new territory for Shiro who never opened up to anyone, he was afraid that if he said the wrong thing, Kikuchihara would never do this again. He had to show the teen it was okay to let others in, and that would require saying just the right thing. But what was the right thing? He silently wished he had the chance to speak with his older sister, who was much better dealing with situations like this. However, she wasn't here, and this was something Kazama had to figure out on his own.

So, with a small breath, he opened his mouth, figuring Kikuchihara would lose his confidence if he waited any longer.

"Thank you for telling me," he started, figuring that would be a good place to start. He paused a moment, getting his thoughts together before continuing. "You went through a lot, and I'm sorry I worried you more, but you're safe now - Nakamura is behind bars, and you don't have to worry about him any longer. And I know things are going to be hard for you for some time, but I'm here, and so are the others - we're all here to help, but you need to let us, alright?"

Kikuchihara took a shaky breath but nodded nevertheless. Kazama watched him, and he could tell the teen was trying to revert his expression back to its typical stoic one. Just as quickly as he had opened up, he was closing himself off. Kazama panicked mildly - had he said the wrong thing?

However, he quickly realized it wasn't what he said. Looking at Kikuchihara, he could see his eyes shining ever so slightly, and it suddenly occurred to Soya he was simply trying to close up to prevent himself from crying in front of his leader. His chest ached again, realizing just how much the teen was trying to keep buried inside.

"Kikuchihara, look at me," he said quietly.

Shiro hesitated but then slowly turned his head so he was facing Kazama, looking like it was taking all he had just to remain composed.

Kazama wasn't really sure what compelled him to do it, but before he could stop himself, he had moved onto Shiro's bed and engulfed him in a hug, careful not to tighten his arms too much. He was in extremely new territory now, but some part of him knew this was what Shiro needed now.

And he was right. At first, Kikuchihara was stiff with surprise. However, after several moments, he loosened up, and Kazama could feel hot tears pooling on his shoulder. Shiro was taking deep breaths, clearly trying to keep himself from full on crying.

"It's okay," Kazama murmured, rubbing the teen's back gently, hoping he wasn't making him uncomfortable. After another few seconds, though, it became clear he wasn't but rather was doing the opposite. He heard a sniffle at his shoulder before his guard came down, and Kikuchihara began quietly crying, barely making any noise. He was clinging onto Kazama's shirt like a lifeline, but Soya paid it no mind. He stayed silent, not wanting to ruin anything - this was the most vulnerable he had seen his teammate, and he wanted to give him time to let everything out.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Shiro seemed to begin to calm down. He took a few more shuddering breaths before he broke away, silently wiping at his eyes.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking down again. "I'm good now."

Kazama raised a brow, and Kikuchihara caught the shift in his expression. He glanced at Kazama before looking away again, his face flushing slightly more that it already was due to his fever.

"You're being too caring, and it's weirding me out," the teen muttered.

Soya couldn't help but allow the slightest of a smile to form on his face. Despite what he had gone through, Shiro was still making snarky comments. That had to be a good sign, right?

"Sorry, but someone has to do it," Kazama responded nonchalantly.

Kikuchihara frowned, looking as though he was about to argue it, but Soya cut him off. "And don't go saying how you don't need any help, because I don't want to hear it."

The teen let out an irritated sigh, leaning back against the headboard with his eyes closed. However, his actions were more theatrical than serious, indicating Kazama had at least gotten somewhat through to his teammate.

"Fine," Shiro responded, keeping his eyes closed. "But you will not be asking me twenty four seven how I'm feeling or if I'm okay or any variation like that, got it?"

"You know, I'm the team leader. I think I can do what I want."

Kikuchihara huffed. "I can always quit the team, you know."

Kazama raised a brow despite Kikuchihara's eyes still being closed. "Yeah, but you wouldn't."

The teen finally opened his eyes again, challenging Soya. "Don't test me," he said nonchalantly. "Considering your new nice act, I'm starting to think you're still out of it from being stabbed."

"Coming from the kid who has no emotions but was just crying moments ago."

Shiro winced before turning to Kazama with a murderous glare. "I respect you as my team leader," he started, his voice dangerous, "but if word of that leaves this room-"

Kazama put his hands up in mock surrender. "Don't worry," he said quickly, "your secret is safe with me."

Kikuchihara kept glaring for several moments before leaning back again with a sigh, shutting his eyes again in the process. Kazama watched, noting that this time, it wasn't so much theatrics but moreso exhaustion. Their exchange made Kazama almost forget the teen still had a very high fever, and now that they were quiet, it was clear the fever was still putting quite a strain on him.

"Why don't you lay back down now and get some rest?" Kazama suggested, knowing the fever would die down much more quickly with sleep.

Kikuchihara frowned, looking as though he was going to protest it. Soya was ready to strike down his counter argument, but before his teammate responded, he seemed to have changed his mind. His frown softened, and slowly, he readjusted so he was completely laying down on the bed.

"That's probably a good idea," he mumbled, looking like he was already falling asleep.

Kazama smiled. Sure, Kikuchihara wouldn't get over this just like that, but Kazama knew if the teen opened up like he did today, it wouldn't be so difficult.

He was about to leave the room and inform a nurse of Kikuchihara's longer period of consciousness when the brunette's voice stopped him.

"Kazama-san?" he said, and Soya turned to face him. Shiro was now curled slightly on his side, looking much more calm than he did when he arrived.

"I'm glad you're not dead."

 **Note:just a quick thing if people think this is all totally out of character -yes, it is, but at the same time, anyone, regardless of how strong they appear on the outside, can be affected by something traumatic. So I was playing off of that idea. Hope it's alright :)**

 **Also, not sure if Kazama actually has a sister, but I added that in because why not.**


	18. Returning to Normal

Kazama returned to his physical form, his team just having completed a group simulation. It had been their first one together since Kikuchihara was released from the hospital merely days ago, and much to Kazama's surprise, it went fairly well. A projection came up from behind Shiro, causing him to flinch, but he managed to snap out of it before he was attacked. It was obvious it was going to take him some time to deal with what had happened, but the fact he was able to snap himself out of things was progress, at least.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," Soya said to the others. "Let's call it a day and meet back again tomorrow."

No one opposed this, and the others began grabbing their belongings before heading out together. Utagawa and Mikami waved goodbye as they headed off in the opposite direction, leaving Kazama and Kikuchihara walking back together.

"You did well today," Kazama commented, glancing at the brunette from the corner of his eye.

Shiro shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't I always?" he responded in a dead serious tone.

Kazama raised a brow, knowing the comment was meant to be an attempt at dry humor. "I don't give out compliments often," he noted, using the same tone as Kikuchihara. "So don't make me regret giving you one."

Kikuchihara rolled his eyes, muttering a "yeah, sure, whatever" under his breath, and Kazama couldn't help but allow a small smile to form. One of his biggest fears from this incident was his teammate was going to have a difficult time recovering, but surprisingly, he was handling things fairly well. Not to say he wasn't having any difficulties, because he definitely was. But, it wasn't as bad as Kazama had feared.

The two continued walking in a comfortable silence after that until they reached the split point. The past few days though, it hadn't acted as one; but today, Kikuchihara stopped, causing Kazama to turn back with a brow raised in confusion.

Shiro looked at the ground briefly, as if steeling himself, before looking back up at Kazama. "I think I'm going to stay at my place tonight," he informed, his tone slightly hesitant despite the indifferent look on his face.

Kazama frowned, surprised he wanted to try so soon. Kikuchihara had been in the hospital for two days since regaining consciousness, just to ensure his fever had gone done to a safe temperature and that his wounds were fine. But, in that time, Kazama realized he hadn't once seen the teen's parents. Realizing it was odd, he confronted Kikuchihara about it. He had only frowned and shrugged, saying they traveled for work and often weren't home.

"So you basically live by yourself?" Soya asked in disbelief, causing Shiro to simply shrug again.

Kazama frowned. "Then who's the legal guardian that's allowed to sign off on your hospital forms and all?"

"Kido knows my situation. The hospital is allowed to contact any of the commanders at Border to get their consent for release," he said, his tone sounding as if it were no big deal.

And maybe it normally wasn't, but this kid had also just gone through something most other high school students never went through in their lifetime, and Kazama didn't think staying on his own was the best for him after something he considered traumatic.

"Why don't you stay with me?" he suggested, going on quickly after seeing Kikuchihara's look of surprise. "I have an extra room in my apartment. Just stay a few days, at least until I know you're okay."

And of course, Kikuchihara had argued, going on about how he wasn't a child and could handle himself. But eventually, Kazama convinced him to stay, although Shiro insisted it would only be for a few days.

And Kazama was glad he suggested the idea, because that first night, he awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of gasping in the other room. He ran into the room, finding his teammate upright in bed, staring straight ahead as he tried to get his bearings straight. Soya had to help him get his breathing under control before he went into a full scale panic attack, but rather quickly, he had gotten Kikuchihara to calm down. But, if he hadn't forced the teen to stay with him, he wasn't sure what he would have done if he were on his own.

Despite it not happening during the next three nights, Kazama was still surprised Kikuchihara wanted to go back to an empty home so quickly. He supposed he shouldn't have been though, considering how closed off the brunette was. Maybe he was just eager to get back to an atmosphere of privacy - Kazama didn't ask too much about his parents, but he thought it fair to assume they weren't really involved in Kikuchihara's life, hence why he was so used to keeping to himself.

Figuring this to be the reason, Soya nodded. "I won't force you to stay, but are you sure you don't want to stay one more night?"

Kikuchihara glanced away again, hesitating before he spoke. "Kazama-san," he replied, his voice slightly unguarded, "It's been fine staying with you, but I need to make sure I can do this on my own, too. Everything else has gone back to normal, and I think it's time this does too."

Kazama looked at his teammate, both his words and expression making him realize it wasn't the privacy that made the teen want to leave so soon. It was the fact that, with Border back to normal, everyone had fallen back into their old routines, both at and outside Border. Kikuchihara was no exception, except for the fact he had been staying with Kazama. So, maybe the teen felt as though fully returning to how things were before the whole incident would help restore his sense of normalcy.

But, Kazama had gotten something else out of the statement. Kikuchihara was also trying to say he had grown comfortable staying with someone else, and he was becoming afraid that if he stayed any longer, he wouldn't feel safe being on his own.

"I understand," he responded, causing Kikuchihara to look back at him with a hint of surprise in his expression. "But, if you need me, even if it's the middle of the night, don't hesitate to get in touch with me, alright?"

Shiro looked about ready to argue, but he relented after seeing how serious Kazama was, muttering in agreement under his breath.

Realizing that was the best he was going to get, Kazama nodded."Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

He began to turn around when Shiro's voice stopped him.

"Kazama-san," he said suddenly, causing Soya to turn back with a brow raised.

Kikuchihara hesitated again, taking a few moments to respond.

"Thank you," he said finally, managing not to look away in embarrassment. "Thanks for everything."

Kazama maintained a neutral expression, although he was slightly surprised by the comment. No matter how many times his teammate had thanked him in the past week, it was still hard to get used to.

He shrugged it off, knowing acting cool about it made Kikuchihara feel less awkward. "You don't need to thank me. Like I said before, we're teammates - if we aren't there for each other, what's the point?"

Shiro nodded, cheeks reddening ever so slightly. Despite the situation, it never ceased to amuse Kazama how uncomfortable Kikuchihara got when he had to abandon his sarcastic behavior.

"Right, I know," the teen replied, looking away as he muttered, "doesn't mean I can't say thanks."

Soya raised a brow, but before he could get in a response, Kikuchihara looked up at him, cutting him off. "I'm going to head home now," he said, clearly ready to end their discussion before it got any more awkward for him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Kazama nodded. "Remember to call me if you need anything, alright?"

Much to his surprise, Kikuchihara didn't respond with annoyance or sarcasm; instead, he gave a nod and an, "I will."

And with that, they parted ways. A slight twinge of nerves went through Kazama, afraid something would happen that night, and he wouldn't be there to help. But he pushed that feeling away - Kazama felt as though he had at least partially gotten past the barrier his teammate kept up, and he trusted that if Kikuchihara needed him, he would ask. Besides, Kikuchihara was right - everything else had returned to normal, and if this was going to help him regain his sense of normalcy, then so be it.

He walked calmly down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets as he contemplated everything that had transpired. Sure, things had certainly been hectic the past couple of weeks, but Kazama could already tell that despite what everyone went through, everything was going to turn out just fine.

 **Note: Yeah, so this is the last chapter of this fic, so I deeply apologize for my trashy excuse of a conclusion (I really hate/am terrible at writing them). But thanks to everyone who read and reviewed and enjoyed this! I** ** _may_** **consider making a sequel, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see what happens with that, but once again, thank youu :)))**


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